11–20 of 124 posts
What would be the unintended negative consequences of this? It reminds me of the story of a West African king who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. On his way to Arabia, the king gifted so much gold to all intervening communities that the price of gold crashed, taking with it the economies of North Africa and Arabia.
What would be the unintended negative consequences of this? It reminds me of the story of a West African king who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. On his way to Arabia, the king gifted so much gold to all intervening communities that the price of gold crashed, taking with it the economies of North Africa and Arabia.
By removing the exclusion mechanism for these students, it in effect turns college education into a public good.
As a country, we've deemed that this is so vastly in the public interest that we provide free K-12 education to all students regardless of how much (income/property tax) their family pays.
I'm not very familiar with studies of free college-level educations, but based on the thousands of studies that shows the incredible economic and social benefits to obtaining higher levels of education, I'd wager that any negative consequences will be vastly out weighed by the positive impacts.
What would be the unintended negative consequences of this? It reminds me of the story of a West African king who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. On his way to Arabia, the king gifted so much gold to all intervening communities that the price of gold crashed, taking with it the economies of North Africa and Arabia.
More people learning stuff doesn't devalue the learning that other people do, it adds to it. The economics of ideas are not the same as the economics of physical commodities.
What would free education do to the labormarket if students no longer had to work part time to make ends meet? What would happen to housing market when students have disposable income not going to tuition?
"No man is an island" is not just a trite old adage, but a very real economic principle.
Wow. That's neat. I once had a conversation with a state legislator where he argued it wasn't the responsibility of government to provide grant and loan opportunities for higher education, and that by doing so, the federal government was disincentivizing saving and investing. Instead, he argued universities should be more market driven (which I will concede might introduce more price competition in the face of rapidl…
But I am bothered by the vast amounts of grant and loan money that get absorbed directly by colleges, raising the cost for everyone and creating a positive feedback loop that requires endlessly more taxes and debt to sustain.
I feel we've been sold a bill of goods ("opportunity through higher ed -- don't let your kids fall behind in the new global economy, etc etc") that is way past the point of rationality.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
More people learning stuff doesn't devalue the learning that other people do, it adds to it. The economics of ideas are not the same as the economics of physical commodities.
There is more to education than learning. What would free education do to the labormarket if students no longer had to work part time to make ends meet? What would happen to housing market when students have disposable income not going to tuition? "No man is an island" is not just a trite old adage, but a very real economic principle.
I suspect that if free education plus a free living allowance were paid for by the state to impoverished students, then you would have the UK until the mid '90s.
And given the levels of unemployment in the US at the moment, it could do a lot worse than paying those who are going to be out of work anyway, to go to school instead of sitting idle.
Also, as the housing market crash was partly triggered by toxic credit, people having more actual money as opposed to relying on debt would have probably reduced this slightly.
[edit] Also, I think it is fair to say that John probably wasn't thinking about keeping people poor to satisfy the demand for cheap labour in an oligarchic plutonomy when he penned those words.
For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
"To receive a full scholarship, students must have attended Kalamazoo public schools since kindergarten. The program, unveiled at a November 10, 2005, Kalamazoo Board of Education meeting, is also viewed as an economic development tool for Kalamazoo. Since the Kalamazoo Promise was announced, enrollment in the school district has grown by 16%, test scores have improved, and a greater proportion of high-school graduates are attending college. In 2010 alone, the Kalamazoo Public School district saw enrollment rise 3% to 12,409."
Have to be there K-12 to get full tuition. There's a chart that shows the sliding scale based on your length of attendance. Most interesting part is that if you move in for the tail end of high school you get 0% covered to prevent people from temporarily joining the community just for the tuition.
Attendance -> Proportion of full tuition
K–12 100%
1–12 95%
2–12 95%
3–12 95%
4–12 90%
5–12 85%
6–12 80%
7–12 75%
8–12 70%
9–12 65%
10–12 None
11–12 None
12 None
EDIT: Added table.
From Wikipedia: "To receive a full scholarship, students must have attended Kalamazoo public schools since kindergarten. The program, unveiled at a November 10, 2005, Kalamazoo Board of Education meeting, is also viewed as an economic development tool for Kalamazoo. Since the Kalamazoo Promise was announced, enrollment in the school district has grown by 16%, test scores have improved, and a greater proportion of hig…
And now. Whatever you do. No. Whatever. You. Do. Do. NOT. Turn back on this promise. Make it happen. No ifs, ands, or buts. Period. And colleges. If somehow, something terrible happens, and the money stops coming in. Let those kids finish for free anyway. Anything less is the newest worst thing that could happen to these kids and then adults. [edit: I am curious about the downvotes. From what I gathered, the people t…
> blind to family income levels, to pupils’ grades and even to disciplinary and criminal records...