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Making public colleges free isn't... free. The perception is often that public universities are already getting most of their money from the state or federal g
by kogus 3y ago
Making public colleges free isn't... free. The perception is often that public universities are already getting most of their money from the state or federal government, so why not just close the gap. But the typical funding level is between 40-50%. The remaining 50-60% is currently covered by tuition and philanthropic giving. So closing the gap to make universities free to the public would involve (in most cases) more than doubling the current level of state/federal funding.
That doesn't mean it should not be done - but the magnitude of the investment should be made clear.
- brewdad 3y agoThose funding levels you are talking about used to be the norm until "trickle down" become the holy grail of fiscal policy. There's no reason we couldn't return to those funding levels.
- hinkley 3y agoReagan slashed university funding and funded the GI bill instead. No need to draft people, we can just send the poor. It’s a win-win /s
- otoburb 3y ago>>So closing the gap to make universities free to the public would involve (in most cases) more than doubling the current level of state/federal funding. Or, a mix of increasing the level of state/federal funding and closing down a portion of the roughly 1900 public colleges[1] around the country. Unfortunatley, as soon as this approach is used, then the "access" problem rears its head since public colleges that are shutdown require more students to commute/reside further away from their home towns. [1] https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1122 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1122