…and why taxpayers should be worried.
My latest piece for The Daily Beast is about Barack Obama's recent proposal to throw more government money at higher education. Here's a snippet:
It's back-to-college time, which means it's the season for bitching and moaning about rising college costs, lack of access to higher education, and the pressing need for even more taxpayer-funded subsidies to the leaders of tomorrow. In just the past few days, we've been subjected to breathless reports that "college tuition costs" have risen 500 percent since 1985 and a mini-campaign swing by President Obama touting more free money for students and a federally sanctioned knock-off of college guides already provided by The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly, Barron's, and countless other sources. Enough already. The plain facts are that college is still well within reach of most Americans, the wage premium for a college sheepskin remains huge, and student loans are not a new form of indentured servitude. You wouldn't get any of that from grandstanding politicians always looking for a new way to rob Peter to buy Paul's vote, an educational establishment that's always on the hunt for new revenue sources, and a news media that alternates between the credulity and ignorance of, well, a first-semester freshman.
Among the revelations that are always ignored by those looking for mo' money:
About 68 percent of high school grads go on immediately to some form of higher education, a percentage that's stayed at or near historic highs despite the Great Recession.
Only 35 percent of students overall going on for higher education take out loans (about 52 percent of those attending four-year state schools and 64 percent of those attending private four-year schools do).
There's no evidence that attending more selective—and typically way more expensive—schools increase earnings.
The typical college grad ages 25 to 34 who works full time makes $15,000 a year more than a high school grad of the same age. The college grad is also much more likely to have a job.
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