Tuesday, December 04, 2018

Why "Free" Community College Is A Bad Idea

To be paid for with unicorn farts:
Californians could soon get two years of community college for free, enough to earn an associate’s degree.

In 2017, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the California College Promise, waiving the first year of community college tuition for full-time students. Assembly Bill 2, announced Tuesday, would add a second year to that program.

“When we started this bill, we came up with a very simple concept: One (year) is such a lonely number. So we came up with two,” the bill’s author, Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, said at a Tuesday press conference.

The program applies to first-time students enrolled in 12 or more credits, provided that they have completed a federal student aid application or California Dream Act application. It is not restricted to California residents, Santiago said.

Why is this such a bad idea?
1.  Tragedy of the commons
2.  Three words:  free high school (and how does that work out?)
3.  No skin in the game
4.  Everyone doesn't need to, nor should they, go to college.  I know that's anathema to say, especially for someone who works in education, but it's true.
5.  California already has a spending problem, we don't need yet another nonessential entitlement.
6. Two can be as sad as one, it's the loneliest number since the number one.
Add more reasons in the comments.

6 comments:

Pseudotsuga said...

You hit all the major reasons I can think of.
This "college promise" has a lot of hype behind it, and wishful thinking appealing to people who vote for free things. But the College Promise program has only guesswork and predictions behind it, with no actual data.
Plus, if I remember right, some students would not be eligible (due to grades, I think), so they and their families would end up paying the tuition (via taxes) for other people.
Oh, I did think up another -- it's meant to help out the underprivileged, but it's actually going to backfire, since the program is not means tested, so the rich will get free college tuition, too. That ought to make the little communists mad....

Anonymous said...

Students dependent on scholarships - even when college is paid for by Pell Grants and the like - have lower graduation rates than other students. This means there is an increased risk that the money thrown at free community college would be money wasted. It’s an example of diminishing returns.

Auntie Ann said...

Lets K-12 off the hook again. They couldn't manage to educate the next generation after 13 years, and don't deserve another 2.

Better would be to make sure a high school diploma actually meant something.

Anonymous said...

I am puzzled by number 2. Do you feel that all public high schools should be closed or just that they should charge the students to attend? Is it OK to have free public elementary schools?

Not being critical, really. I'm just curious about your thinking.

Darren said...

There aren't too many people out there who think our (free) high schools are doing a great job--justified when you remember that over half of *university* students in CA universities need remedial math and/or English classes.

My point is that we pay enough for 13 years of relatively substandard education (not all the schools' fault, by the way), why pay for 2 more?

Ellen K said...

Rather than an associates degree in marine biology or environmental science, which will qualify you for very few jobs, how about throwing some money into training electricians, machinists and plumbers? My son has a four year degree in history and not wanting to do law school or teach, he's working at a Volvo dealership selling parts. Great return for his hard work. Personally I wish I had sent him to a trade school. Right now we are producing millions of people incapable of doing some of the basic functions in adult life like driving or cooking. Maybe instead of college, we should have some sort of Adulting Boot Camp to prepare potential snowflakes for a real world where unicorns and rainbows don't always coincide.