2021 will bring a free-college proposal in Congress and publication of my book, “The Path to Free College.” In honor of both events, I’m launching #FreeCollegeQuestions, a series of weekly posts to explore questions average Americans may have about free college.
First up in #FreeCollegeQuestions, “If college is free will people value it less?” Richard DeVos (Betsy’s father, who died in 2018) made this argument about the Kalamazoo Promise back in 2006, telling the Grand Rapids Economic Club "If it's free, it's not worth much."
I’ve always suspected DeVos’s problem was with @KzooPromise emphasis on public schools and universal access rather than the philanthropic gesture itself. (His family, after all, is one of the nation’s largest givers, with over a billion dollars in lifetime philanthropy.)
Even if you agree with the premise that getting something for free reduces its worth, which I do not, here’s the reality: existing state and local “free college” programs, along with federal proposals, do not make college free.
Most free-college plans cover tuition and fees, not living expenses, which can far exceed the price of tuition, especially for two-year degrees. A very few such programs make a gesture toward full cost of attendance, but no free-college plan covers everything.
Many students struggle to pay for their basic needs, like food, housing, transportation, and health care, as @HOPEcenter has shown. Free-college programs that cover tuition and fees help ease the burden of affording college, but they do not remove it.
There are also opportunity costs to attending college. Opportunity costs are the loss of potential gain from the activities you give up – like more hours of work -- when you choose a different activity -- like taking more classes.
So, students who benefit from “free college” must still pay (or borrow) large sums and incur substantial opportunity costs to get their degrees. I know of no evidence to suggest they value these accomplishments less because they received support in achieving them.
To read messages of gratitude for such support, see kalamazoopromise.com/home/promisesc…
For more on Promise program structure and benefits, see Promise databases @UpjohnInstitute and @College_Promise
Add your own answers in comments or retweets; #FreeCollegeQuestions should be a dialogue.
For more on Promise program structure and benefits, see Promise databases @UpjohnInstitute and @College_Promise
Add your own answers in comments or retweets; #FreeCollegeQuestions should be a dialogue.
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