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You could mathematically prove that the return from providing free education in terms of the incoming taxes from an extremely educated and capable working popul

You could mathematically prove that the return from providing free education in terms of the incoming taxes from an extremely educated and capable working population will outweigh any benefits from effectively strapping people down into indentured servitude. How many jobs are being lost because would be job creators are locked into something less than their full potential to service these kind of exploitation loans? How many more businesses and jobs would be developed if we didn't have Sallie Mae vampiring a huge chunk of productive potential?

closeparen 9y ago
How much lower would the premium for an educated worker be if college became the new high school? I’d also support free college, but I’d expect all wages to fall accordingly. Or for the loan situation to repeat itself, this time to pay the income taxes on tuition waivers for grad school, as a masters or PhD becomes necessary to set yourself apart in the labor market.
- greeneggs 9y ago
  You might find this article interesting [1]. Although free tuition caused enrollment to rise 22%, still German "university graduates earn 40% more than those with a vocational education." And "making tuition free hasn’t led to any noticeable change in the demographics of who goes to college," partly because living expenses aren't free. [1] Jon Marcus, "Germany proves tuition-free college is not a silver bullet for America’s education woes" https://qz.com/812200/is-free-college-possible-germany-shows-there-are-downsides-to-tuition-free-college/ https://qz.com/812200/is-free-college-possible-germany-shows...
Retric 9y ago
Alternatively, education level is just used as a proxy for other forms of discrimination. If X is free they will just require X + 1, so free public education will simply reduce the number of productive years as people spend ever more time being educated.
- grogenaut 9y ago
  That's really only true if the multiplier is less than 1/30 per year of school, eg 3.3%. I have no data on this but I'm betting a year of college is higher.
  - kamaal 9y ago
    In some cases that is already not true. For example Medicine and law. Your academic training ends late in life. And therefore you have to charge higher and higher to make up for your investments. And of course, for the student loans too.
    - grogenaut 9y ago
      So law degree nor medical degree is not a 20x multiplier on productivity of a highschool graduate?
      - Retric 9y ago
        A high school graduate capable of getting a medical degree != a normal high school graduate. Further, doctors are an artificially constrained supply which vastly increases pay vs. other progressions. In many counties they make comparable salaries to US programmers which don't need collage degrees. A Law degree from a 3rd rate school on the other hand is not so constrained and outside of 'top' schools which again are a limited supply tend to have minimal benefit.

closeparen 9y ago

How much lower would the premium for an educated worker be if college became the new high school? I’d also support free college, but I’d expect all wages to fall accordingly. Or for the loan situation to repeat itself, this time to pay the income taxes on tuition waivers for grad school, as a masters or PhD becomes necessary to set yourself apart in the labor market.

greeneggs 9y ago
You might find this article interesting [1]. Although free tuition caused enrollment to rise 22%, still German "university graduates earn 40% more than those with a vocational education." And "making tuition free hasn’t led to any noticeable change in the demographics of who goes to college," partly because living expenses aren't free. [1] Jon Marcus, "Germany proves tuition-free college is not a silver bullet for America’s education woes" https://qz.com/812200/is-free-college-possible-germany-shows-there-are-downsides-to-tuition-free-college/ https://qz.com/812200/is-free-college-possible-germany-shows...

Retric 9y ago

Alternatively, education level is just used as a proxy for other forms of discrimination. If X is free they will just require X + 1, so free public education will simply reduce the number of productive years as people spend ever more time being educated.

grogenaut 9y ago
That's really only true if the multiplier is less than 1/30 per year of school, eg 3.3%. I have no data on this but I'm betting a year of college is higher.
- kamaal 9y ago
  In some cases that is already not true. For example Medicine and law. Your academic training ends late in life. And therefore you have to charge higher and higher to make up for your investments. And of course, for the student loans too.
  - grogenaut 9y ago
    So law degree nor medical degree is not a 20x multiplier on productivity of a highschool graduate?
    - Retric 9y ago
      A high school graduate capable of getting a medical degree != a normal high school graduate. Further, doctors are an artificially constrained supply which vastly increases pay vs. other progressions. In many counties they make comparable salaries to US programmers which don't need collage degrees. A Law degree from a 3rd rate school on the other hand is not so constrained and outside of 'top' schools which again are a limited supply tend to have minimal benefit.