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The longer this election season drags on, the more I hear about the merits of free college. And it’s not just Bernie Sanders and his supporters. I hear regular college students who have no interest in politics calling for tuition-free schools as well. In reality, it’s a terrible idea that makes no economic sense or really help anyone.
Let’s start with the obvious: free lunches don’t exist. Eventually, somewhere down the economic line, someone has to pay for the “free” college many so vehemently support. This can either come from higher taxes on citizens or by taxing Wall Street.
Most organizations that focus on economics estimate that free college for everyone would cost around $70 billion a year. Bernie’s financial transactions tax – the way he proposes to pay those $70 billion dollars – has one big flaw.
It’s not taxing the 1 percent, it’s placing a higher burden on middle income families investing for retirement. When you tax a mutual fund for investing, you ultimately leverage that cost on everyone, not just the rich. As the Investment Company Institute points out, you’re just hurting the middle class even more – something people like Bernie say they love to protect.
Simply speaking, if free college isn’t funded by a financial transaction tax, the costs will move on to the taxpayer, meaning everyone – and I mean every person, not just the rich – will be paying much more in taxes. Americans will have to pay for others to earn useless degrees that will never see an economic return and reinvest in the economy.
Bernie Sanders continually says that by making college free, the United States will have a more educated workforce to compete with the workers from countries. Here’s the problem with that: the top three most educated work forces in the world, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – South Korea, Japan, and Canada – all charge tuition for college.
Students in Canada actually come out with roughly the same amount of debt as US students. So, in reality, it doesn’t matter whether college is free or not for an educated workforce; other factors have more control over matriculation and graduation rates. So, one of the main arguments for making people pay more in taxes is wholly incorrect. The statistics just don’t support it.
College has become so necessary because high school ultimately makes students non-distinguishable from each other. Bernie Sanders said in his New York Times op-ed that “a college degree is the new high school diploma,” but he didn’t recognize that high demand for a college degree is a result of supply and demand.
In the 1950s, it was completely possible to graduate from high school and get a job that gave decent pay and good benefits so you could work your way up the economic ladder to success.
But that was when going to high school actually meant something.
As high school became more readily available for everyone, which isn’t completely a bad thing, the supply of skilled labor increased because more people were well educated. Employers could no longer distinguish between the applicants, leading to employers’ requirement for college degrees.
If college becomes free for everyone, the amount of jobs that a bachelor’s degree will be able to attain will ultimately shrink. Soon, employers will start looking for graduate degrees, which means more college.
Finally, there is the important constitutional argument. The federal government has no control over higher education. The Constitution does not mention education in any form. In the context of the vital but seemingly forgotten Tenth Amendment, education – in every aspect – is left up entirely to the states; the federal government cannot touch education, even if it wanted to.
Every time the federal government interferes with education, our leaders are breaking the oath they made to uphold the Constitution and all her greatness.
In reality, free college is just not a viable option. It doesn’t make economic or constitutional sense. At the end of the day, the federal government has no business being in the business of higher education, and it does, it’s going to hurt a lot more than it’s going to help.
Opinion columnist Jorden Smith is a political science junior and may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com
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“Free college doesn’t make sense” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar