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sure. relieving an ever accruing college debt which cripples a nation is a solution in search of a problem.

AnimalMuppet 7y ago
Well, Biden's plan may be a solution in search of a problem that fits that solution. The problem is real enough. But... Maybe, as a first step, we ought to look at why college is so expensive in the first place. If you look at, say, Western Governors University, you see that it can be done fully online reasonably well, at least for certain majors. Can it be done fully online, still reasonably well, for more majors, for a lot less money? If not, why not? Then there's the problem that too often, college is remedial high school. It would be a lot cheaper to fix the high schools. Then there's the problem that, if you make college free, you're not actually making it free. You're just changing who pays for it. That's defensible. But even if "we the people" think we should pay for college, that doesn't mean that we think we should pay for unlimited amounts of college for unlimited people at unlimited prices. $50K/year for 40 million students is not what we think we're agreeing to. "Everyone" has to mean "not everyone", and especially "not everyone for as long as they want to go". Forty years from now, we shouldn't be paying for some 60-year-old who's still trying to get his bachelor's (or says he is, but the truth is that he just finds the life comfortable). What needs to happen is that the government comes in and says that we'll pay for college, all right, but not at your price. Your college is overpriced, and if we're going to send you students that we pay for, you can't charge that much. What I fear will happen instead is that the price of college, which (IIUC) has been going up 10%/year, suddenly goes up 20% or 30% as soon as it's the government rather than the individual who's paying. Now, Biden's plan may address some of these points. I don't know whether or not it does, and I don't expect to learn so from this article.

Well, Biden's plan may be a solution in search of a problem that fits that solution. The problem is real enough. But... Maybe, as a first step, we ought to look at why college is so expensive in the first place. If you look at, say, Western Governors University, you see that it can be done fully online reasonably well, at least for certain majors. Can it be done fully online, still reasonably well, for more majors, for a lot less money? If not, why not? Then there's the problem that too often, college is remedial high school. It would be a lot cheaper to fix the high schools. Then there's the problem that, if you make college free, you're not actually making it free. You're just changing who pays for it. That's defensible. But even if "we the people" think we should pay for college, that doesn't mean that we think we should pay for unlimited amounts of college for unlimited people at unlimited prices. $50K/year for 40 million students is not what we think we're agreeing to. "Everyone" has to mean "not everyone", and especially "not everyone for as long as they want to go". Forty years from now, we shouldn't be paying for some 60-year-old who's still trying to get his bachelor's (or says he is, but the truth is that he just finds the life comfortable). What needs to happen is that the government comes in and says that we'll pay for college, all right, but not at your price. Your college is overpriced, and if we're going to send you students that we pay for, you can't charge that much. What I fear will happen instead is that the price of college, which (IIUC) has been going up 10%/year, suddenly goes up 20% or 30% as soon as it's the government rather than the individual who's paying. Now, Biden's plan may address some of these points. I don't know whether or not it does, and I don't expect to learn so from this article.