Though free college education may seem like a no-brainer, Larry Pogemiller, Minnesota’s higher education commissioner, is skeptical of both plans. The first, he notes, covers only two years of college, and subsidizes rich and poor alike. The second, with its scholarship, isn’t enough to cover tuition rates in Minnesota. Both plans leave out private schools entirely.
“Theoretically, if someone was willing to raise enough taxes, yes, you could make college free for everybody,” he said. But for now, it’s an elusive goal.
Public institutions may also be in opposition on the basis that the plan would be a form of price control, or that they can’t handle, at the amount they are allowed to charge, the flood of students projected to descend on them. And such a sweeping and dramatic change would face an uphill battle in a divided government that has proven incapable of making even marginal policy decisions.
“It’s very difficult to separate the politics from the economics,” said David Breneman, a professor in the economics of education at the University of Virginia.
Breneman pronounced the free-college proposals “not realistic,” especially at four-year institutions (“That’s just La-La Land”), though he said they might stir up a helpful conversation about untangling the way the government helps students pay for college.
“When you look at what a mess we’ve made of student aid and how complicated it’s gotten and the loan craziness, it’s not surprising that people look back at those days when we just had low tuition,” he said.
Free-college crusaders counsel patience.
“No way is it happening today. To me the question is, will enough groundwork be laid today that it becomes something groups are working on for the next 10 to 12 years, and that eventually becomes a litmus test for people we elect,” said Goldrick Rab.
Winograd said more states could make public colleges and universities free sooner than that, mostly without federal involvement. Advocates in some already have proposed it, and many states are watching the free-college experiment in Tennessee, whose $34 million-a-year-cost is to be underwritten by a $300 million endowment paid for from lottery proceeds. (In Oregon, whose legislature has approved a study of making community college free, the annual cost is estimated at $100 million to $200 million.) “The political will to do it does exist, not necessarily in Washington, but throughout the country,” Winograd said.
Material used from: ©2014 the Star Tribune (Minneapolis). Visit the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) at www.startribune.com. Distributed by MCT Information Services
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