Here's Exactly How Much the Government Would Have to Spend to Make Public Colleg

[formerlurker]

Sat Jan 4, 2014, 07:40 AM

Star Member xchrom (98,273 posts)

Here's Exactly How Much the Government Would Have to Spend to Make Public College Tuition-Free
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/heres-exactly-how-much-the-government-would-have-to-spend-to-make-public-college-tuition-free/282803/


A mere $62.6 billion dollars!

According to new Department of Education data, that's how much tuition public colleges collected from undergraduates in 2012 across the entire United States. And I'm not being facetious with the word mere, either. The New America Foundation says that the federal government spent a whole $69 billion in 2013 on its hodgepodge of financial aid programs, such as Pell Grants for low-income students, tax breaks, work study funding. And that doesn't even include loans.




If we were we scrapping our current system and starting from scratch, Washington could make public college tuition free with the money it sets aside its scattershot attempts to make college affordable today.

Of course, we're not going to start from scratch (and I'm not even sure we should want to make state schools totally free). But I like to make this point every so often because I think it underscores what a confused mess higher education finance is in this country. On the whole, Americans seem to want affordable colleges that are accessible to all. But rather than simply using our resources to maintain a cheap public system (and remember, public schools educate 75 percent of undergrads), we spill them into a fairly wasteful and expensive private sector. At one point, a Senate investigation found that the for-profit sector alone was chowing down on 25 percent of all federal aid dollars.

If that story sounds awfully similar the problems the U.S. faces with healthcare costs, well, that's because it is similar. Americans have an allergy to straightforward policy solutions involving the public sector. And for that, we pay a price.

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/10024275234

Response to xchrom (Original post)

Sat Jan 4, 2014, 07:45 AM

Star Member Starry Messenger (23,043 posts)
1. K&R

But massive student loans build character! Or something. I'm sure someone will be along soon to tell us why this is a terrible idea.

Oh but the government coming to the rescue was very very bad for higher education misfits:

Though the GI Bill converted college from a privilege of the rich to a middle-class expectation, the higher education bubble really began in the 1970s, as colleges that had expanded to serve the baby boom saw the tide of students threatening to ebb. Congress came to the rescue with federally funded student aid, like Pell Grants and, in vastly greater dollar amounts, student loans.

Predictably enough, this financial assistance led colleges and universities to raise tuition and fees to absorb the resources now available to their students. As University of Michigan economics and finance professor Mark Perry has calculated, tuition for all universities, public and private, increased from 1978 to 2011 at an annual rate of 7.45%. By comparison, health-care costs increased by only 5.8%, and housing, notwithstanding the bubble, increased at 4.3%. Family incomes, on the other hand, barely kept up with the consumer-price index, which grew at an annual rate of 3.8%.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303870704579298302637802002

It also doesn't help  students when parasites like the fake indian granny Warren pulls in a $300K+ salary to teach one class at Harvard, but here we are.   Again, you own it.  



I just want to add that xchrom is quite possibly the most socially challenged individual on the island.   I haven't found one article or thread posted by this user that would have any redeeming qualities whatsoever to humanity.   This chap needs to refocus his/her efforts in getting a life.  Quickly.

[obumazombie]

A free college degree is a basic human right.
Once you have that, any number of free higher degrees in the same field are a basic human right.
Once you have those, any number of degrees and higher degrees in other fields are a basic human right.

[dutch508]

Now wait just a gawddammed moment. You said that the total cost of all undergrads in the US was 62 Billion and change, yet in the same article state the government spent 69 billion in student aid? Yet your chart shows 107.4 billion in loans, 35.9 in grants, 32.6 in tax benefits, and .93 billion in work study...

That's a mere 176.3 billion dollars in federal poo.

WTF, Morris?

Not even primary and secondary education is free, dumbass. Where do you think they get their money from? Taxes. Shit, I pay $600+ a year in school taxes and I don't even have kids in the system in our county! Once again, it's free for the people... piad for by other people.

[Carl]

Now wait just a gawddammed moment. You said that the total cost of all undergrads in the US was 62 Billion and change, yet in the same article state the government spent 69 billion in student aid? Yet your chart shows 107.4 billion in loans, 35.9 in grants, 32.6 in tax benefits, and .93 billion in work study...

That's a mere 176.3 billion dollars in federal poo.

WTF, Morris?

Not even primary and secondary education is free, dumbass. Where do you think they get their money from? Taxes. Shit, I pay $600+ a year in school taxes and I don't even have kids in the system in our county! Once again, it's free for the people... piad for by other people.

I am looking at that too and saying "what the?"
God they are stupid.

[Freeper]

Too hell with the consequences, give us our free stuff.

[Skul]

Hmmmm. Look what popped up in that link.

Update—Friday Jan. 3, 3:45 PM: Just to clarify, because some readers have asked, making tuition free in 2012 would have required $62.6 billion on top of what state and local governments already spend subsidizing public colleges, as well as some of the federal spending that doesn't go towards financial aid. Again, you can find a detailed breakdown of how our colleges are funded in the Department of Education's data.

[Mr Mannn]

Too hell with the consequences, give us our free stuff.

Nail. Head. You hit it. Hi5.

4-6 years wasting time with a liberal arts degree. Room and board paid for by Daddy state. Free computers and internet. Free entertainment. Free on campus health care. paid time off to attend the next Occupy event. A perfect introduction to Living Without Working 101. No wonder the DUmmies love this idea.

[Bad Dog]

One of the finest examples of our current educational system... dummie math!!!

[Carl]

There is not one of them,including attorney Taylor at law,that can grasp how the assertion of the headline does not match the pie chart shown.