Free College Tuition: You Get What You Pay For By

KYLE HECKMAN:

Let’s say that this does happen. All student debt is paid off, all colleges and universities are free, and anyone can get in with acceptance. Now, a student at a university that you are paying higher taxes for so they can pursue that diploma drops out or flunks. What compensation will the government assure you? Answer: none. The modern left is in the business of getting students into universities (and hopes to do so on your dime) so they can gain votes and continue to stack their elite with the college educated many of whom have degrees that are essentially useless in most professional markets. “Well, if they flunk out or drop out, they could join the military as a form of repayment.” That sounds great too, except that the military, even for enlistees, has high standards. The armed forces will accept those with high school diplomas and G.E.D.s. But, the number of those who enlist with a G.E.D. are very small. So by sending those who drop out or flunk out of an already free system to go serve and get paid, once again by taxpayers, is illogical in and of itself. Not to mention that you are asking those who couldn’t handle the pressures of a classroom to go into something that requires more, up to the sacrifice of their own lives. The American military, minus times when the draft was used, thrives on a desire to be there. A college dropout just paying back his dues, all while getting paid, would not be the ideal candidate for serving the country.

Most Democrats pursuing a 2020 run, like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg, among others, vehemently disagree with the idea of economic competition. But anyone who has taken high school economics knows that competition is key to any free-market capitalist economy. Without competition, colleges would have an even higher number of students fill their campuses and keep the cash flowing. All without regard for the standard of education they provide. Now since this is available to everyone, the demand will go up, in turn making costs higher. Without competition for students, the number of the essentially worthless degrees goes up because colleges will have much more capacity to offer them. Once again, why should the taxpayer be saddled with a student’s debt so she can pursue a degree in “lesbian dance theory”? Higher education is already offering a great number of degrees in programs that there are very small, if not, no markets for. This causes students to miss out on that career of grandeur they’ve built up in their heads the last four years. Instead, they end up with debt they aren’t able to pay off. If academia and students alike would use the same critical thinking they preach about, then they would stop offering and taking worthless programs that there is no demand for. Learn to focus on ones that can offer rewarding careers that can easily pay off student debt, which then in turn encourages alumni to donate to their alma mater.