{"id":903,"date":"2015-05-26T07:40:05","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T11:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jparnell.com\/blog\/?p=903"},"modified":"2015-05-26T07:40:05","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T11:40:05","slug":"no-free-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=903","title":{"rendered":"No free college"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vermont socialist and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently introduced a bill to eliminate undergraduate tuition at public colleges and universities. His College for All Act<\/em> would also reduce interest rates on federal student loans and allow graduates a refinance their loans at these lower rates, thereby \u201cstopping the government from making profits on student loans.\u201d The stated cost of the bill would be $300 billion annually, which would supposedly be financed by instituting 0.5% and 0.1% taxes on trades of stocks and bonds respectively, as well as a smaller fee on derivatives, including stock options and futures contracts.<\/p>\n

Sanders has virtually no chance of winning the Democrat primary, but a lighter version of his bill could get some traction from those on the left\u2014and possibly some swing voters who buy the notion that this would be an \u201cinvestment in America,\u201d so it\u2019s worth debunking at the outset.<\/p>\n

As for the interest rate proposal, the federal government nationalized the college loan industry in 2010, a move Sanders supported. If there\u2019s any profit in the student loan business, the federal government is only getting it because it took over the system. The easiest way to keep this from happening is to privatize, but this wouldn\u2019t make the left happy either. The problem is profit. In a socialist\u2019s world, it\u2019s evil. Governments determine production, pricing, and wages so that \u201cmarket distortions\u201d are eliminated and everything is \u201cfair.\u201d This ideological point aside, we\u2019re hearing more calls to \u201cdo something about the $1.2 trillion in student loan debt,\u201d which really means transferring some or all of it from those who willingly borrowed the money to those who did not. Like others of his ilk, Sanders would really like to dissolve most or all of debt, not just tinker with the interest rate.<\/p>\n

There are many problems with his free college tuition proposal as well, aside from the fact that the federal government has no constitutional authority to pass it anyway. Costs of public institutions vary widely among the states in part because of the amount of funds state governments allocate. If the federal government is going to pick up the tab, then state governments have an incentive to spend less on their own, effectively turning over the entire college funding process to Washington.<\/p>\n

Moreover, not every student needs to go to college or is ready to do so upon graduating from high school. The return on investment for any college decision depends on individual factors. Motivation is a very important one, but less of it is required when someone else is paying the bill. In fact, free college would be viewed as an easier alternative to many jobs one might get out of high school, effectively promoting a college education to those for whom it is not intended.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to consider Sanders\u2019 funding mechanism. His proposed taxes on stock trades sounds like a tax hike on the wealthy, but it would be counterproductive to the economy. Investors should be encouraged<\/em> to move their funds into investments with the most potential. Like a capital gains tax, a levy on stock trades encourage investors to hold funds in questionable assets rather than pay the expense. This is a surefire way to stunt growth.<\/p>\n

There is an irony here. Part of the occupy protests was based on the notion that many college graduates have incurred large amounts of debt but are struggling to find employment in their majors. Indeed, many have been deceived by a mantra that encourages college at any cost, so I have some degree of sympathy. Nonetheless, if many current graduates are unable to find good jobs\u2014something leftist supporters of the movement parroted throughout the protests\u2014then why should the government \u201cinvest\u201d in more graduates? They wouldn\u2019t owe tuition individually <\/em>under Sander\u2019s plan, but taxpayers collectively <\/em>would incur the debt.<\/p>\n

There are many other reasons why free college education is a bad idea; in fact, I can\u2019t really think of a reason to support it. Perhaps you might expect me\u2014as a professor at a state-supported university\u2014to favor such a proposal because it would infuse federal dollars and expand the industry, but it\u2019s just not a good idea for anyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vermont socialist and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently introduced a bill to eliminate undergraduate tuition at public colleges and universities. His College for All Act would also reduce interest rates on federal student loans and allow graduates a refinance their loans at these lower rates, thereby \u201cstopping the government from making profits on student loans.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}