Government Could Afford To Give Free Tuition To Students

(The image above is of the West Texas A&M campus -- the closest public university to my own home in Amarillo.)

I have said many times on this blog that I think the government should pay the college tuition for students who want to go to college (and have shown they have the ability to do so). It would not only keep students from having to create a huge debt to get a college degree (this delaying by many years their ability to benefit from that degree), but it would also be cost-effective for the government (because the higher taxes paid on the higher incomes would far outstrip the money used to help  students get their degrees.

I think too many politicians aren't looking at the long-term benefits, and too many taxpayers have been deluded into believing the government could not afford to give students free tuition. But it could be done -- and should be done. And a recent post over at Think Progress by Bryce Covert shows how it could be done. Here is part of that post:

There’s a way for everyone to get a free college education, however. The government could take the $69 billion it already spends to subsidize the cost of a college education through grants, tax breaks, and work-study funding and simply cover the $63 billion tuition spent at public colleges. This would mean anyone could avail themselves of a free college degree and it would also likely incentivize private universities to lower their prices in order to compete.

College tuition is becoming a heavier and heavier financial burden: it rose by more than 8 percent in 2012 to hit a record of $5,000 on average a year. The total price of attending a four-year public college has risen 27 percent faster than inflation over the past five years and has gone up 24 percent at community colleges and 13 percent at private universities.

Many students take on loans to cover these costs, and total student loan debt hassurpassed $1 trillion. Those loans can end up being difficult to pay back: one in eightborrowers is in default. The debt can’t be discharged in bankruptcy and may be holding young graduates back from buying their own houses.

Of course, it would not truly be a "free" education. The student would still have to buy books, pay an activity fee, and if going to a college away from home, pay for room and board. But it would significantly reduce the cost of a college education, and make it once again affordable to nearly all who want it -- and that's a good thing (for the students and the country).