The Public Favors Free Tuition And Cancelling Student Debt

A college education is very expensive these days. Even public colleges and universities have priced themselves out of the reach of many poor and working class students, and those who borrow to attend those schools find themselves with a crushing debt upon graduation.

Republicans don't seem to care. They want to cut the amount of grants available to students, and raised the interest rate students must pay when they borrow to go to school. Once again, it shows the Republicans only care about the rich.

Democrats have proposed a couple of plans to help needy students better themselves by getting an education. One would provide free tuition at public colleges and universities. Another would cancel up to $50,000 of debt to students from families making less than $100,000 a year.

What does the public think of the Democratic plans? A significant majority of them approve of both plans. About 61% of adults and registered voters support free tuition at public colleges and universities. About 56% of adults and 58% of registered voters support cancelling up to $50,000 in debt for families making less than $100,000 a year.

These programs make a lot of sense. In fact, they would pay for themselves over time, since those college-educated individuals will pay a lot more in taxes over their working life. Other developed nations know this, and many of them already offer free college tuition. It's time for the U.S. to do the same.

The charts above are from the latest Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between May 26th and 28th of a national sample of 1,500 adults (including 1,120 registered voters). The margin of error for adults is 2.6 point, and for registered voters is 3 points.

Most Americans Want College Made Affordable For Students

A college education used to be affordable in this country, especially at public colleges and universities. That's because states kept tuition low by providing a lot of the funding to those institutions -- and the federal government provided grants and low interest loans for students needing it.

That is no longer true. In many states, the Republicans removed the caps on tuition and cut the funding for colleges and universities. This forced colleges to raise tuition to cover those cuts, and that tuition has kept rising. They also freed banks to charge high interest rates for college loans, and made sure the grants (like Pell Grants) did not keep up with the rising costs.

This has had a very negative result on the affordability of a college education. It has gotten so bad that only two groups can easily afford college -- the children of upper middle class parents, and the children of rich parents. All others now have a very difficult (if not impossible) time trying to afford to go to college -- and many students now finish college with a huge amount of debt (that forces them to put off staring a family, buying a home, etc.).

This is not only bad for those students, but it is also bad for our economy -- because they are able to buy things to boost the economy or pay higher taxes thanks to their education, because they must spend a lot of their income trying to pay back the exorbitant loans.

Other countries are smarter than our government when it comes to helping students get a college education. They provide free tuition to students. They know that is cost-effective, because when those students graduate they will make higher wages and pay higher taxes -- and the government will get back more in higher taxes than it spent to help educate those students. The American government is not smart enough to see that. They want to make going to college a business where profits are made -- and that makes college unaffordable to many students (and puts others in deep debt).

Both of the leading Democratic presidential candidates understand this -- and both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have plans to help reduce the cost of a college education. And it looks like the American people might also be finally understanding that college is costing too much, and that hurts the country. Note the charts above.

Those charts were made from a recent YouGov Poll -- done on August 11th and 12th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, and has a 4.1 point margin of error. It shows that most people don't think students (or their families) should have to borrow to pay college tuition. They also don't think either the state or the federal government does enough to help make college affordable. And perhaps most important, they think tuition at public colleges and universities should be free.

The Democrats are on the right side of this issue.

Time To Stop College Tuition Inflation

In 2003, Texas legislators made a serious error. They decided to allow state colleges and universities to set their own tuition rates without guidance or regulation from state government. Since that time, it seems like every time we turn around colleges are raising their tuition.

On the average, tuition in state colleges has increased by 40% since 2003. At the University of Texas the figure is 57%. These are outrageous figures. As Senator Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) says, "This is like crack for the universities. They just can't seem to get enough of these tuition increases."

It was already hard for poor and working class people to be able to fund a college education. With tuition costs rising every year, many people are simply finding that they cannot afford a college education no matter how badly they want it. This is not only a tragedy for those denied a college education. It is also a tragedy for our society and our state.

The fact is that the more people who can get a college education, the better off our state will be. Funding a college education is one of the most cost-effective things a state can do. Those who receive the education make significantly larger salaries, and over their lifetime will pay a lot more in taxes of all kinds. The government receives far more in additional taxes than it spent on educating these people.

During the Republican regime of the last few years, our government has found billions of dollars to throw at corporations, but has been unable or unwilling to help Texas students to get a college education. They claim to be business-minded, but cannot understand a truly cost-effective proposition such as funding college educations.

If we were really smart, we would be offering free tuition for those who maintained a 2.5 grade-point average, and open up the opportunity of a college education to all who want it. It would increase the percentage of educated people in our society. It would raise the standard of living for many thousands of people. And it would feed the tax coffers of our state with more money. It would truly be a win-win situation.

But I'm afraid that is just a dream no matter how much sense it makes. Probably the best we can hope for is for the legislators to put a cap on tuitions and regulate their growth. We'll probably be lucky if they even do that.

Sen. Juan Hinojosa (D-McAllen) said, "I think we'll look back in history on the day we deregulated tuition as one of the worst decisions ever made by the Legislature." He is right. The only question now is do they have the political will to correct this horrendous decision.

Our society already has too large a divide between the rich and poor. We cannot allow a college education to become something only the rich can afford.