Posted on 02/07/2016 6:16:40 AM PST by Kaslin
Bernie Sanders, everyone's favorite socialist running for the American Presidency, has as one of the central tenets of his campaign that college should be free to all Americans. It seems to be a popular proposal with some, especially those paying the circumspect fees colleges are charging these days. It is just plain stupid and let me explain why.
Let's start with the basic concept that nothing is free. You may be saying that is a banal statement, but it is not because so many people just don't get it. Obviously that is indicated by all the people who like his proposal. When my children were young I taught them that the mints or matchbooks at the front of a restaurant were not really free for the taking. They were included in the cost of our meal. Over time they absorbed the concept. On the other hand, fly up to visit our Canadian cousins sometime. Ask them what they like about Canada and more often than not they will tell you about the "free" health care. Then try to enlighten them that they have a misconception. Usually their eyes glaze over and they float back into their alternative universe where they make believe things just appear out of thin air.
There are four principal reasons why this proposal is so massively idiotic. The first is that federal money is one of the main reasons college costs have soared. Since I attended college in the 1970's, access to federal loans, grants and various disguised forms of free money have driven up the cost of a college education. With the soaring influx of federal funds, the annual costs of a college education skyrocketed forcing states to pull back on their commitments due to restricted and drained state budgets.
Bernie's proposal acts to accelerate the fire by pouring more federal funds on the flames and eliminating any control on costs from individuals rejecting the soaring costs. Now every dollar going into to college coffers will be OPM (other people's money). No one will be watching the store.
With the complete takeover of colleges by the federal government budgets, we come to reason number two. Our colleges have been run privately or by states or, in the case of community colleges, by local governments. The federal government will dictate all that goes on at college campuses. You think colleges are misguided currently, wait until they are run by a faceless, nameless, federal bureaucracy.
The third reason is control of costs. The biggest war coming is the fight against cost controls. The colleges want unlimited budgets and they want unfettered control. While a few governors (all Republican) have targeted colleges for their out-of-sight costs and redundant, bureaucratic staffing, there has been blood-letting in this fight. The colleges are huge economic drivers in the districts they inhabit and they throw their weight around with their representatives attempting to kill any efforts to make them cut their budgets. Leftist college administrators and professors viciously protect their largess and they are not against lobbyists who they engage for their purposes.
The fourth reason is Sanders is focused totally on input and seemingly ignorant of output. One of the wars we have in this country is over H-1B visas which our tech companies argue they need because our colleges are not producing enough engineers to feed their development. My reaction is that with the massive amount of college graduates in America, why can't our sons and daughters fill those needs. The simple answer (not simplistic) is our colleges graduate far too many young people with useless degrees. We all know that.
Sanders' proposal would throw more money at a system that produces too many college graduates that have been given no additional advantage other than the self-delusion that their lives are improved because they can say they have "a college degree." In fact, he will accelerate this system. No one will have individual responsibility for their actions and no one will have ramifications if they fail. Even more people will be encouraged to spend four years of their lives getting useless degrees because the student or their family will not bear the financial burden. Just think of the increase of Uber drivers who can offer witty repartee because the government has funded their "college education."
Sanders has not thought his way through this immensely dangerous proposal. He does not have to because he is a leftist and if it makes him and his followers feel good that is the only thing that is important. But don't think Bernie's eventual loss will be the end of this. Mark my words, ten years from now this will be mainstream Democratic Party policy. With the right president, we could have a nationalized college system and we will have a new "right."
Free government indoctrination. I’d pass.
Hey, all late teens-early 20s should get to hide out in school for that extra 4-6-8 years before they have to go to work! < /sarc >
Lol, that’s a great idea! And if they won’t shovel, tell them they will have to pay $15 an hour for someone qualified to do it.
But no free speech h unless you are in the free speech zone.
I think there’s zero percent chance of Burney being the nominee, but I have to wonder what a bizarro world it would be if he was elected.
Personally the guy personifies the aged hippie. Does he have a David Axelrod or Valerie Jarrett behind the scenes to be the “hammer” to push all through?
Agreed. Maybe universities should publish the class loads and salaries for individual teachers every year.
For a better America:
Abolish the Department of Education.
Make High School attendance voluntary.
Repeal child labor laws.
The colleges have lobbied successfully in many states to require certifications for jobs that any teen could do. It keeps the money coming in.
Maybe the fact that he’s a United States Senator, rather than governor of Vermont.
That's RACISSSSS!
Let me state the obvious: If college were free I’d be a 65 year old sophomore. I’m not sure how that helps America.
Additional point: many kids SHOULDN’T go to college. As a professor I found 1/3rd failed on a regular basis... A quarter just didn’t have the will to do the work; they could do it, but just didn’t. The remainder were incapable of the work, needing years of remedial preparation if they had any hope at all.
Don’t make it easy for kids to get into something they just can’t or won’t survive.
Someone posted here a while back about an AA friend, who had gotten several degrees. Apparently, he was in his late 30s and as long as he was in college, his tuition and all expenses - including a monthly stipend - were paid for. (Grants?) He apparently was using that scam as his ‘job’.
Does “free college” also mean “free lodging, food, and transportation”?
Community college tuition in many places is insignificant ... but the student needs somewhere to live and eat (mostly at his parents’ house ...).
With socialism, everything is free...until other people’s money runs out and everyone ends up poor.
This is the real problem as I see it (well that and the astronomical cost).
What will really happen is a college degree will have less worth ... more like a high school diploma has become a minimum marker of achievement.
To have a mark of achievement you would now have to have a Masters Degree (this is already true) or a PhD. This entails even more money and even more years in school not being a productive taxpaying citizen.
Pretty soon the call will be for the government to pay for “free” advanced degree programs as well ... and then free PhD programs, etc.
I have several friends and family who teach at the college level and they all tell me that at least 50% and probably more of the people enrolled should not be there. They require lots of remedial education (things they should be proficient with from attending high school but aren’t). Plus they are going for degrees that are not or should not be required anyway to do most jobs. Most of them would be better off in trade schools or apprenticeship programs set up by employers.
Yep I work at major University, albeit, hospital side in Finance, and I see the salaries for professors, admins, and the perks, raises, incentives they receive. Unreal, most of them make 250-500K. They are Union of course, so nothing gets cut. However, on the non university side, non union side, we have all taken cuts.
Sanders probably also believes that tax refunds are free.
You’re kidding right? I work for a major University but I work on the hospital side in Finance. I see what they are paid, their perks, incentives, etc. Most of them make 250-400K a year for teaching a couple of classes. They are also Union.
Yep, grants for “why are Lesbians fat”.
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