Drawing by Ian Ulam
Lately there have been a lot of college students and their sympathizers demanding that their tuition be free, and all current student loan debt be canceled. This is nothing new, obviously. The movement for "free" college has been going on since at least 2014, and it has gained a lot of attention from the political media, and support from parts of the general public. But with that said, read on and you may find some thoughts on this that some people have sadly, neglected to speak about.
We might agree that establishing a "single-payer" system for college tuition would be absolutely terrible for our economy, simply because it would require taxpayers to pay for everyone's college tuition. High taxation discourages hard work, since it means that whether you work hard or not, you still have to hand over a large portion of your money to the government. This is especially the case when your taxes go up as your earnings increase. At this point it seems much easier to just live off of government subsidies instead of working to pull your own weight. Also, our taxes in America are already used to fund a variety of other things. According to White House statistics, the top four programs and services that our taxes pay are Healthcare, National Defense, Job and Family Security, and Net Interest. We don't need college tuition to be added to this list. But the main reason why we can't have taxpayers pay for nation-wide college tuition, is because of how much money it would actually cost. Common rhetoric from members of this band-wagon of people demanding "free" college, is that the 1% should pay higher taxes, and that military spending should be cut, in order to pay everyone's college tuition. This idea obviously sounds impossible whenever someone asserts it, but if you go through the great pain of doing the math, you'll find that its literally impossible. I wish I could post links in this format, but I can't. So I'll just recommend you look up a video by YouTube political comedian and journalist Steven Crowder. It's called "Bernie Sanders Plan Debunked". This video is brut economic reality, mixed with comedy.
While those points are completely true, there's another side to this issue that we need to talk about.
For a long time now, colleges in the U.S have been raising their tuition costs more and more. One would think that this money would go towards improving the education that students are given while they are there. As much as I wish this were true, I doubt that it is.
According to USA Today, colleges and universities spend their student's college tuition money on things like sport's teams, professor's salary, financial research, seven-figure CEO's, campus beautification, etc.
With society expecting nearly everyone to have a college degree these days, more and more people are attending college right out of high-school, there is altogether ten times more student loan debt in America than there was in 1994(According to the Wall Street Journal). This helps colleges and universities afford the things I just listed. All because the schools get this money basically in cash due to student loans, while the students are left to pay off the debt over time. The schools don't care who is financially elligible, it makes no difference from heir side of the deal. And because they get the money(more or less indirectly) straight from government, they raise tuition cost's to the levels that they do.
I believe that the problem with students being charged too much for higher education cannot be solved by forcing the 1% to pay for. It could be better helped by the schools reducing their tuition costs, so that average college students can pay it off in a more reasonable time frame.
In a survey by CareerBuilder.com, only one third of the college graduates that took the survey who held jobs, worked jobs in the particular field that they earned degree's in. This story should compel future college students to pick a major with a good return rate, and one that is projected to have job opening's by the time they graduate. They should also consider finding a school with a good ROI. According to PayScale.com, these are the five colleges and universities with the highest ROI:
Please acknowledge that ROI means ROI over ten years.
School Cost ROI
(On average) (On average)
- Harvey Mudd College - $229,500 $980,900
2. California Institute of Technology – $220,400 $837,600
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology – $223,400 $832,1000
4. Stanford University - $236,300 $789, 500
5. Colorado School of Mines(in state) – $114,200 $783,400
So yes, these numbers may indicate that student loans can be paid off eventually, but these numbers are from the best schools, not common ones. Also, if Colleges and Universities spent less tuition profit on all the things I listed above, tuition costs could be a lot less. With all of that said, if you are seeking a career in something like medicine, engineering, accounting, business, or any other field that is essential to our society, it would be wise to pick a specific major and school that offers a good return rate.
According to Fox Business, these are the ten majors that lead to the highest salary per year:
Major Average Salary
Chemical Engineering $66,400
Computer Science $64,400
Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronomical Engineering:
$64,000
Mechanical Engineering: $62,900
Electrical/Electronics and communications Engineering:
$62,300
Civil Engineering: $57,600
Finance: $57,300
Construction Science/Management:
$56,600
Information Sciences and Systems:
$56,100
Let's get back to my point of colleges and universities making their tuition costs too high.
Many people seem to conclude from similar data to what I cited earlier, that college has become a money scam. I don't believe that this is an unreasonable point to make. Before I go any further with that idea, I'll acknowledge that all of those major that I mentioned in the top ten list, as well as a few others, may be good long-term investments to make. If you are someone who is interested in going into medicine, science, engineering, or finance, by all means, work hard and earn a degree in one of those fields. I even believe that majors such as economics, business, or others may be useful in certain professions that don't require that specific degree. If you feel that you can pay off the debt, go ahead. With that said, there are some college majors that don't exactly have good return rates. So if you don't have rich parents that can pay your tuition in cash, or if you don't have a sure form of income to pay it off over time, you may consider avoiding these majors. According to a study by Birmingham Business Journal; these are the least reliable college majors for finding a job:
- Architecture: 10.3 Percent Unemployment
- Social Sciences: 10.1 Percent Unemployment
- Psychology and Social Work: 9 Percent Unemployment
- Law and Public Policy: 8.6 Percent Unemployment
- Journalism: 8.2 Percent Unemployment
My conclusion is that a "single payer" system for college should not be considered a viable option for several reasons:
. The numbers have proven that it would be far too much for taxpayers to pay over time.
. There are a lot of possible paths in life that do not require a college degree, and a lot of people won't attend college, so it might be understandably frustrating for those certain people to have to pay for other people's education.
. The main problem in the issue of people having too much student loan debt, isn't that a higher education is a human right and should be free. The problem is that colleges charge too much for tuition, and should cut their costs. But whether the price tag on a degree is high or low;
. If someone wishes to attend college, they should have to work to (at least) mostly pay for it. Scholarships are great for students that earn them, and should be given to those students to reward hard work, and encourage younger students to also work hard and do big things.
Sources:
USA Today
Wall Street Journal
CareerBuilder.com
PayScale.com
Fox Business
Birmingham Business Journal
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