Table of Contents
Is free public college a good idea?
Making college tuition free may increase the number of students from the lower income families, but most of the benefit will still go to the middle and upper income families. Economists argue if you want to help poor students, then it is better to fund programs that directly target those families.
Why is free education a good thing?
If college were free for everyone, students wouldn’t need to worry so much about their debt and the things that aren’t included in the tuition, meaning they wouldn’t have to work during college. This would allow them to get better grades in school and better job opportunities in the future. 5. More Economic Growth.
What would happen if college tuition was free?
Other research shows that completion rates fall the less students pay towards the cost, hinting that free tuition might raise already scandalously high dropout rates. Decades of research by large numbers of scholars, including myself, show a huge negative relationship between income tax rates and the growth of income.
Should high-risk students go to community college instead of University?
Therefore there is a case for nudging high-risk students with problematic academic records to go to these lower cost schools rather than expensive four-year universities, with easy transfer to the four-year schools if successful at the community college level.
What are the three problems with free college?
However, there are three problems: the poor academic track record of community college attendees, the potentially very negative economic growth implications from financing so-called free college, and even some fairness issues.
Do higher taxes on private sector earnings to fund colleges reduce growth?
Raising taxes on private sector earnings to fund colleges lowers growth because the output reduction associated with higher taxes on the highly efficient and market-directed competitive private sector is far greater than any positive effects of more education administered by less efficient and market disciplined higher education providers.