Free College Isn't Really Free

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Having returned from their worldwide concert tour as the opening act for Taylor Swift, Adam and Jeff discuss the idea proposed by both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that college be made free to everyone. They consider the staggering amount spent each year for post-secondary education and the number of households filing tax returns to determine that the actual bill for "free college" for each taxpayer each year would amount to thousands of dollars. Jeff points out that a government mandate that everyone be able to attend college for free would simply result in the schools jacking up the tuition as much as possible because college would be a basic right available to all--no matter how qualified or motivated each student might be. As college loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, lenders have no incentive to restrict the amounts of money they loan to applicants. As a result, there is an enormous amount of money sloshing around in the system which merely encourages schools to keep jacking up their costs year after year. Jeff points out that college is supposed to be a learning experience and not a 4-year visit to an amusement park so there is no reason that education costs cannot be contained. Unfortunately, the vast expansion in recent decades in non-teaching (e.g., administrative staff) has compounded the incessant rise in college costs.