Posted on 06/27/2019 6:31:01 AM PDT by Kaslin
“Spoiled teenagers only like Bernie because of his promising free [fill in the blank].” You’ve probably heard it from your dad, uncle, grandfather — or all three. Indeed, promising free stuff is Sen. Bernie Sanders’ forte. On June 24, he gave the youth yet another reason to support his candidacy by announcing a plan to erase America’s $1.6 trillion in student debt and make most colleges across the country free. Except that…the youth just aren’t going to college like they used to, despite higher incomes and lower tuition (net of student aid) than a decade ago. Instead of wasting away in lecture halls during their formative years, millions of college-aged Americans are increasingly opting to forge their own paths forward. For that, Bernie wants to punish them.
It’s easy for 17-year-olds to be afraid of forgoing college. Mental images of depressed non-attendees consigned to waiting tables for the rest of their days plague the average high schooler. But not everyone is buying into that narrative anymore — college enrollment is dropping, even as high school graduation rates increase. From 2012 through 2017, high school graduation rates increased from 81.4 percent to 84.6 percent. These historically-large graduating classes face higher-than-ever college tuition and fees, but thanks to the rise in federal and state student aid, tuition and fees are on net slightly lower than they were a decade ago. And as net tuition ebbs and flows, real household income continues to rise.
Despite these trends, about 1.4 million fewer students enrolled in a higher education institution in Fall 2018 than Fall 2013. This drop isn’t much of a mystery; a rising economy encourages people to leave costly classrooms for companies that are increasingly desperate to hire new talent. In the throes of the Great Recession, students holed up in higher-education programs and waited out crashing labor markets. But if America stays its current economic course, over the next generation or two, we may be in for fewer recessions. American Institute for Economic Research scholar Dr. Polina Vlasenko notes that, “There have been 11 recessions in the 66 years since 1948 and only four recessions in the last 33 years.” Until a couple of years ago, economists such as Dr. Vlasenko worried that, even if recessions were shorter than ever before, they would be more likely to be followed by jobless recoveries. The sub- four percent unemployment, however, means we’re probably doing alright.
There are other excellent routes around higher education, too. Apprenticeship programs across the country such as Praxis help students develop their skill sets and provide a stepping stone to career opportunities.
Making college free and erasing student debt would put an end to this inventive and entrepreneurial spirit by giving millions of students an offer that will become impossible to refuse. While some students will forge the difficult path regardless of financial inducements, a sub-20 hour work week, plus amenities, plus parties, plus the good chance of a well-paying job at the end is surely more appealing than the crazy work hours and high failure rates faced by entrepreneurs. If Bernie’s plan became law, then young Americans choosing immediate work over a plush collegiate experience would be subsidizing their hard-partying peers. That’s neither a fair nor viable approach to maintaining a prosperous, innovative society.
Thousands of Millennials and Gen. Zer’s are trying their best to provide the products and services that millions of Americans need, and make a fortune in the process. Our hard-working young people don’t need presidential hopefuls crushing their dreams at gargantuan expense.
The Bernick’s wife made Burlington College tuition free.
Just expand that program/policy.
At what point does ‘free’ become ‘compulsory’?............
For most, college is just day care with sex and alcohol.
College for all is a trap. Eventually the commies will have us living in little tubes as batteries like in the Matrix.
Basic fact!! The lives, families, safety and very existance of EVERY poorly educated DEGREE OWNER is 199% dependant on the skill, knowledge, training, experience and dedication of the “UNEDUCATED” people who keep the electricity flowing, the jet engines on planes functioning as well as those who keep the elevators in high risers rising and falling safely.
The Social Studies Professor puts his life and his family’s into the hands on the “greased up guy” who has set up the brakes in his car.
The Law Professor at any leading school will only survive the cold night IF the technician who maintains the GAS heater in his house has done a proper job.
The Social Justice prof is on schedule empying a water bucket because he can’t locate a plumber to come fix the leak NOW.
People should stop and think of those non-degree holders who really keep this wonderful country running.
Bachelor of Arts degrees shouldn’t be funded by taxpayers. Under any circumstances.
News flash for America. Socialist countries only give their students two or there years of college, and not four years. A teacher in the EU cannot teach in the US without doing the extra credit hours. Furthermore, you are not paid more in a socialist country you are rather, fulfilling your obligations for training as a doctor, nurse, etc. In the EU a basic tax rate of 50-70% is levied on all salaries; then you pay a 20% VAT on after tax income. If you are a doctor with the highest tax rate you might earn 100,000 Euros, taxed 70,000 Euro and your remaining personal income is 30,000 Euros so you get hit with a 20% VAT leaving a doctor with 18,000 Euros. For a sanitation worker, or a clerk, you earn 50,000 Euros, and are taxed 25% Euros, leaving you with 25,000 Euros before you spend 40% on VAT leaving the janitor or clerk with less than 15,000 Euros. But everyone who goes to college gets is free, and they get their medical care in long lines free, and everyone gets five (5) Weeks Vacation a year because nobody should have to work all the time in an economy with 12-15% unemployment because if you are unemployed you get five (five countem) years worth of bennies until you have to go back to work.
Universities are dems Reducation camps.
Which is why the dims want everyone to go to college.
Ding ding ding ding ding!
You’re the winner
Here’s the thing if you’re an engineer or an engineer in school or studying physics or chemistry or chemical engineer or nuclear engineering you’ll be surprised there is very little time for politics!
A few years after education bureaucrats take over they'll make 'college' mandatory. You'll need a note from your mother or doctor to skip a day.
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