There's been considerable debate lately over the idea of allowing students to attend college at little to no cost, with some decrying this as flat-out socialism and unAmerican. I'd like to dive in for just a moment with another perspective. It's worth noting that for...
...the country's recent history, college and university educations were at minimal levels because the state and federal governments saw value in an educated population, and didn't see them as "consumers" to be preyed on by financial institutions. So taking California as...
...an example, up until 1969 the tuition fee for California universities was $300 per year for residents and $1200 per year for non-residents. At $300 per year that's the next best thing to being free. The fee jumped an astronomical $150 a year later for $450 total per year....
...and stayed there for most of the 70s, which is when those who yell the loudest about "no free tuition" got THEIR university educations. The numbers began to skyrocket when universities began to look to their students as a source of profit and federal support waned...
...and now the cost of a year's education at the typical California university, such as USC, is over $57,000. That's 126 times what it was just in the late 70s. The average price of a car in the US in that period was $3,500. If car prices had stayed on par with university...
...prices, the average price of a car would be $441,000. That is clearly insane, but we've allowed ourselves to be foxed into thinking it's okay for this staggering amount of money to be paid for college educations THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY MOSTLY FREE AND WERE FOR DECADES.
Republicans long for "the good old days" when things were, in their view, ever so much better. Well, little to no cost for higher education was one of those things, so where is their support for this? I keep seeing them saying things online like, "I'm not going to pay for..."
"...some rich kid's education." Newsflash: the rich kids are always going to be able to afford college, with or without you. It's the other 99% who are going to be financially hobbled for the rest of their lives. So if you're so wedded to the Way Things Used To Be, how about...
...we not go for free college, we just put things back to where they were when you (and I) were in college. $350 per year. Okay, fine, I'll spot you to $450. That way they're on par with what you paid and there won't be any hard feelings, you cheap, immoral bastards?
