In the lead-up to the 2020 elections, we’ve heard several proposals offering free college tuition for all, and loan forgiveness for those still carrying debt.
While proponents call these proposals “investments in our future,” the reality is they would be a suffocating financial burden on every taxpayer, but especially on middle- and lower-income citizens.
There’s an inherent unfairness to forcing many working-class Americans who couldn’t afford to go to college themselves to pay off the loans of those who could.
Requiring a family making $50,000 a year to pay off the college debts of doctors, lawyers, engineers, and even some members of Congress who make $174,000 a year is unconscionable.
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Let Dems pay $1000 each on to there taxes.
ReplyDeleteWe may need a taxpayer revolt.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThere's no free lunch, except at public schools. And it's not truly free since taxpayers foot the bill. The kids use the cash their families would have used to buy lunch to buy snacks.
But back to 'free' college. It's possible to justify a certain number of actual scholarships for students who are serious, talented, hard at work on the books students, and who are from really disadvantaged backgrounds. All others pay cash.
Too many dorm rooms and lecture hall seats are available to far too many mediocre and poor HS students. But Uncle Sugar, courtesy of Zero, is willing to lend them money to fritter away. Bankers used to make these subsidized loans which were still murky, with repayment issues.
A significant percentage of college enrollees will be home by Christmas, or after the first year, and will still be on the hook for their loans. Even for eventual graduates grabbing the degree in four years is now much less common.
We need a serious rethink and change to the entire set-up. Let students advance on genuine proof of performance. Those in the know see how K-12 courses have been diluted. If there are fewer prospective customers colleges will be forced to compete on both cost and quality. The shake-out is already hitting smaller schools who have strayed from their traditional role.
You don't need to invest 4 years and 80K to learn how to fill coffee cups or run a drive through window.