Free Tuition In Aggieland

In recent years, the price of a college education has climbed exorbitantly. Their was a time that private schools were expensive, but state colleges were very affordable. That's not true any more. For instance, the estimated cost for an in-state student to attend Texas A and M is about $19,950. Over $7800 of that would be for tuition and fees.

But it looks like there is some help for students on the way. Yesterday, Texas A and M University announced a program called "Aggie Assurance". The program starts with this year's freshman class, and offers free tuition to students from families that make less than $60,000 a year.

To stay in the program, a student must maintain a 2.5 grade point average. That's about a middle C average, and should be easily achievable by anyone with average intelligence who is willing to do a minimum of studying.

In addition, the students would still be eligible for the other grants, scholarships and loans normally offered. The university says it's trying to make college more affordable for working and middle-class students (the median family income in Texas is $52,355).

I applaud the university for it's forward-thinking program. This is the kind of thing that our state (and our nation) should be doing. A college graduate will make significantly more money in their lifetime, and therefore pay significantly more taxes to the local, state and national governments.

If our leaders were as smart as they think they are, they would be offering free college educations to all students who want it and are willing to do the study and work. This use of tax money would actually make a profit for the government. For a fairly small investment in education, they would get many years of higher taxes from those who got the degrees.

It's good that A and M is doing this, but it's something that should be done by the state and national governments. It's time they started using our tax money to help the people -- and not just the corporations.