(by Tomas Payne)
There is no question that college and university tuition costs are out of control in America. Something needs to be done to make advanced education more affordable.
Unfortunately, “free tuition” won’t be as free as promised.
The inconvenient truth is that overall, college educated individuals make more money than people who don’t have college degrees. That means that they are more likely to be earning higher incomes in the years after college. Otherwise, a key reason to go to college (to better ourselves) wouldn’t be true. When they are earning these higher incomes, they will be asked to pay higher taxes. Guess what part of those higher taxes will be for.
If you guessed for future students to have “free tuition” you would be correct.
What will really happen is that those who receive “free tuition” today will have to pay higher taxes to perpetuate the “free tuition” program for future students. Since this policy won’t do anything to curb the escalating costs of higher education, the burden of future higher education costs will be equivalent to having to repay student loans in the current system.
So, a vote for “free tuition” today will remove your student loans today and increase your taxes to pay for student tuition in the future. Welcome to the side-effects of the “free tuition” plan.
A better solution would be to tackle the question of why tuition costs have risen faster than inflation over the past 50 years. That would bring real progress.
For more, check out Side Effects: What Candidates Don’t Tell You:
Side Effects: What Candidates Don't Tell You 