What Are the Pros and Cons of Government Paid Free College?

July 19, 2019July 14, 2021 Joe Messerli Debate debate, free education, national debt

Pros – Arguments For Government Paid Free College

It will lead to a better educated, more productive work force.
More college graduates means more workers in higher tax brackets; thus, the additional tax revenues would help finance the costs.
Free college could be tied to required public service work, similar to the way it is in the military.
It allows students to pursue education in their passions rather than just what will pay the bills, including crushing student loans.
With the relieving of education costs, parents, students, and graduates would have more disposal income to spend or invest in other areas.
There is a major shortage of highly-educated individuals in information technology, medicine, and other high-skilled professions.

Cons – Arguments Against Government Paid Free College

With the national debt and annual deficits already out of control, the U.S. can’t afford another entitlement.
It will shift the supply & demand curves for educational funds, meaning prices of tuition would shift much higher.
It isn’t fair to all those who fully paid for their college education.
As with public schools, when education is “free”, students don’t take the studies as seriously as they would if spending tens of thousands of dollars.
Government-funded college would come with strings attached; i.e. politicians and bureaucrats would be setting conditions & controls.
U.S. public school performance dramatically lags behind the world despite already spending far more than any country; so why, put the government in charge of college also?
Students would more likely study areas that have little job demand in the workplace rather than the skills society desperately needs.
The poorer individuals who don’t have the academic ability for college would in effect be subsidizing future high-income individuals.
There would be less interest in the practical skill-oriented tech schools since cost would no longer be an issue.
Politician interference would lead to more a much more inefficient system.
As with “crony capitalism“, having all that money available for education will lead to favoritism of political allies; for example, special rules for Ivy League schools.
Religious and other types of schools would be excluded due to constitutional restrictions and political power.
Colleges are already churning out brainwashed anti-American socialists perfectly willing to give up all their freedoms. Putting government in charge of more education is likely to make the indoctrination even worse.
Free college incentivizes “professional students”; i.e. students who want to stay in school far longer than required to get a degree in order to avoid the real world.

06-16 Politically Incorrect Daily

June 16, 2019June 15, 2019 Joe Messerli Daily Memes Elizabeth Warren, free education, student loan forgiveness

Political Memes and Funny Pictures

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So, an organization that was specifically founded to urge the nation to “move on” from the Bill Clinton impeachment push is now fighting for impeachment of President Trump. This despite the fact a 2-year Democrat-dominated Mueller Investigation found no evidence of collusion or obstruction, in addition to the fact that the impeachment process would probably take longer than the 17 months before the next presidential election.

Tweet of the Day

Random Thought of the Day

Some questions for Elizabeth Warren and other socialists who want to cancel all student loan debt:

- Are you going to reimburse myself and others who accumulated $50,000 in student loans in the past but paid them off?
- Are you going to cover community colleges, trade schools, and other skill-specific schools, or are you just going to stick to debt from elitist colleges that churn out malleable socialists?
- Are you going to cover lawyers, doctors, and other high-income professions who will have $200k or more income potential in a few years?
- Is the debt forgiveness going to come with strings attached; i.e., does this mean more stifling government control of the U.S. education system?
- Are you going to cover all future students, including those who may quit their jobs to pursue a new career now that education is “free”?
- Are you going to cover the “professional students”; i.e. the people who stay far longer than necessary to complete a one-major degree?
- Have you thought about the fraud and waste that will be introduced into the system, as happens with every new government entitlement?
- College students pay hefty costs for education to increase their earning power; by forgiving their loans, aren’t you subsidizing the future one percenters?
- And of course, the most obvious question, which no CNN or MSNBC anchor dare ask, how the f@ck do you plan to pay for this when our the national debt is already exploding out of control?

05-04 Politically Incorrect Daily

May 4, 2019May 3, 2019 Joe Messerli Daily Memes free education, government spending, textbook industry

Random Thought of the Day

Liberals regularly talk about excessive profits made by banks, health care businesses, and oil companies, but they never say anything about the price gouging coming from the education textbook cartels. Colleges and professors keep the racket going by requiring the purchase of these overpriced books, when you can get a full education on almost any subject free with nothing more than an internet connection, using sites such as KhanAcademy.com, YouTube.com, Open.edu, Coursera.org, and countless others. Textbook price gouging is big business. Two of the biggest educational companies, McGraw-Hill and Centage, recently merged, creating a juggernaut with annual revenue of $3.2 billion! Imagine what would happen to the costs of textbooks if education were truly a free market industry without government interference. Imagine what would happen if government offers to provide “free” college to everyone.