Posted on 04/17/2017 9:58:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
New York liberals recently celebrated the realization of a long-held dream: giving a free college education to anyone who wants it.
Well, not quite "free" as in nobody has to pay for it. It is one of the primary conceits of the liberal welfare state that they can refer to a taxpayer-funded benefit as "free." Hence, we have "free" public housing, "free" food via the SNAP program, and "free" medical care for those on Medicaid.
Ah, would that it were so.
We all know that there is no such thing as "free" when it comes to government benefits. The money to pay for the goodies does not grow on a tree or even a bush. It comes out of the pockets of ordinary Americans.
So let's refuse to play along with this fiction and look at the real costs of government-funded college tuition.
Providing students four years of tuition-free college does not mean that professors have generously decided to forgo their salaries and academic buildings now come rent-free. In fact, it does not even mean that universities have a plan to cut administrative bloat to focus more of their efforts on academics.
Indeed, offering free college to students means that someone else is now paying for it: New York taxpayers, many of whom do not hold bachelor’s degrees themselves and will likely earn less in the future than their college-going counterparts for whom they are now footing the bill.
Recent history has shown that removing any financial responsibility from the student to pay for their degree does more harm than good. Economists have found that virtually unrestricted access to federal student aid encourages colleges and universities to raise their tuition prices.
When universities are not directly accountable for their prices to consumers, tuition can gradually increase without jeopardizing the loss of significant numbers of students. However, American taxpayers feel this tuition increase quite a bit when students default on their loans.
The proposed budget plan for New York couples the state taxpayer-funded grants with federal Pell Grants, which has been shown to increase tuition as much as 40 cents on the dollar.
Creating a state grant for higher education, coupled with federal grants, will likely lead to further increases in the cost of higher education. The program is slated to be phased in over three years and is expected to cost taxpayers $163 million in the first year.
What about the effect on private colleges? There is little doubt that many private schools will see a falloff in enrollment. This will be true even though the plan includes an increase in funding for them as well. There is just no competing with schools that offer tuition paid for by the government.
Given the following:
Tax payers are the losers.
College Admin are the winners.
Teacher unions are winners.
Students won’t learn any marketable skills.
Student lose via fraud.
That’s a lot of multi-variable math!
One cost of “free” school is that a bunch of kids who have no idea what they want to do with their lives, or who don’t want to get jobs when they graduate from high school, will automatically go to college to party and ultimately flunk out. There is zero risk to them in looking at college as a 4 year vacation. At least when parents pay, they put pressure on the kids to figure out a major and stay in line.
For somebody to get something for nothing, then somebody else, somewhere, has to be getting very little or nothing for a great deal of actual cash.
Kind of an involuntary lottery, with the rules hidden in some arcane book of obscure regulations, and the participants never advised of the ratios of the payout to the amount expended.
Ponzi wold be so proud.
We all lose out if these people don't get trained for those fields. And they lose out if they start four-year college, but don't finish.....they'll have to pay it back.
Wonder how companies will look at applicants who graduate from these “free” colleges?
JOB RESUME
Joe Shmow
EDUCATION
Free education from big New York liberals.
Did not work much cuz the educashun was free.
EXPERIENCE
None cuz nobody will hire me.
Gee, I wonder what will happen to tuition rates and faculty salaries with the taxpayer on the hook. /s
Stupid New Yorkers. They should be required to live in that state until they die. They should live under the horrible policies they vote for and the tax bill. Instead, they usually flee to other, lower tax states and ruin those.
Ya think?
So instead of paying for their own tuition for 4 years (or loans for 10) they will pay for others’ tuition for the rest of their lives as NY residents. Perfect!
When I went to college in the 80’s, it was to earn a degree to get a better paying job in a specific field.
It wasn’t about the “experience”.
Send them backpacking in the Middle East if they want an experience.
There will be a 4 Year “stay in NY after graduation” requirement as well. Next step will be a wall to keep people IN.
Also, like everything in America now, “free” tuition will be means-tested. It will NOT be free if you make above $125K per year.
As mentioned, it will kill private colleges in NY.
Finally, with increased state control and funding, progressives will have just another strong lever of political control, censure and social-engineering. The leftist swamp of academia will become that much more concentrated.
Young men and women now stay on their parents insurance until age 26. Young people don’t have to work anymore. They’re paid to stay in college. They’re 27-28 and don’t have any work experience. No people in world history has produced such a useless generation.
Most aren’t shouldn’t be wasting 4 years in college. They didn’t achieve enough success in high school. In fact, no more than 20-25% should be supported by taxpayer funds — grants, loans, etc. I have no problems supporting those that want to go to trade schools that can provide people with real opportunities.
Many become nannies for their siblings who are also living at home divorced with kids.
and ultimately flunk out”
Colleges have been making it easier and easier to get degrees so as to keep the money flowing. Not a whole lot of flunking out will be going on. Just accelerated dumbing down.
Few seem to understand the concept of economic “friction”: _something_ has to limit demand to match supply, as a natural objective fact of economics. Either inventory simply runs out, square footage available reduces to unusable, whatever ... no supply is infinite. There is only so many seats available in so many classrooms, and so many competent professors available to teach there; that leads to consequences where the “free money” will result in a combination of unintended consequences.
Looks like Commie Cuomo and our Jerry The Fairy Brown are trying to see which one of them are able to bankrupt their respective states first. Personally, I hope it’s a tie, with both CA and NY going under at the same time.
No such thing as free education. But if they are going to go down the path, I am of the opinion that the state could offer an Associates of General Studies that would be based on 20 tests.
The state department of education could offer free videos of state employees recording their lessons. Individuals would then register for the first test for free. Upon passing all 20 tests, the student would be accredited with an AS is GS.
I am of the opinion that the 20 tests / 60 credits should break down to 3 credits each for:
Business Math
Algebra I
Applied algebra
English composition
American Literature
Classical Literature
US Government
American History - The Revolution to WW1
American History - WW1 to present
World History
Chemistry
Physics
Anatomy
First Aid (EMT 1)
Personal Finance
Personal Fitness
Introduction to Computers
Business Applications (Word processor, spreadsheet, email)
Library science and research
Speed Reading or Typing
If the student fails to pass the test the first time, the second attempt would be for a cost. Credits and degree would be transferable with the state college system.
Individuals who fail their first attempt at the test could take again but would need to take a re-test fee. I believe that the fee would be on par with tuition. These fees would go back into the system to fund the video recording of the professors.
+++
Note, the intent is only to test / prep a student for later college work if they wish to pursue a higher degree.
“Creating a state grant for higher education, coupled with federal grants, will likely lead to further increases in the cost of higher education. The program is slated to be phased in over three years and is expected to cost taxpayers $163 million in the first year.”
Trump should move to cut off federal grants. All this grant money does is give the institutions the ability to raise tuition and professors salarles at the same time. Grants are the principal way colleges and universities are able to raise their tuition.
New York already gets federal money to run the schools. The difference between money they receive and the cost of the new program is the difference they need to come up with. Tuition itself is cheap. It’s everything else the explodes the cost of tuition. They still have to buy lodge, food, books and fees. Loans will still be huge. I think it’s only the first two years anyway.
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