HomeschoolrsRUs
01-28-2005, 10:02 PM
Making College More Expensive: The Unintended Consequences of Federal Tuition Aid
by Gary Wolfram
<!--BIO-->Gary Wolfram is George Munson Professor of Political Economy at Hillsdale College in Michigan.
<HR>Executive Summary
As Congress debates the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, it should heed Friedrich Hayek’s warning that democracy is “peculiarly liable, if not guided by accepted common principles, to produce over-all results that nobody wanted.” One result of the federal government’s student financial aid programs is higher tuition costs at our nation’s colleges and universities. Basic economic theory suggests that the increased demand for higher education generated by HEA will have the effect of increasing tuitions. The empirical evidence is consistent with that—federal loans, Pell grants, and other assistance programs result in higher tuition for students at our nation’s colleges and universities.
The Rest of the Article Here:
Making College More Expensive: The Unintended Consequences of Federal Tuition Aid (http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3344)
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I hope this doesn't sound as bad when reading it as it does as I think it, but sometimes the truth hurts. I am sick to death of hearing people complain about the cost of a college education. Anything worth anything comes with a price: hard work, sacrifice, and determination. Nothing worth anything is ever free, either.
People who have children MUST realize that at some point in time those cute little bundles-of-joy are going to grow up, and probably either they, the parents, will want them to, or the child(ren) themselves will want to, go to college. WHY then don't parents start when the children are born planning for that day by either putting money away or investing in some type of savings program for college or further eduction?
We are SO blessed in the state of Florida with a program called the Florida Prepaid College Plan. When li'l Bubba and li'l Bubbette were born we immediately begain their plans. For li'l Bubba we pay $23.93 every month, and $27.17 for li'l Bubbette, and have done so since they were one month old. We only owe approx. $800 more on li'l Bubba's plan, and once he completes his dual-enrollment program (the Lord Willing, and he is accepted) he will begin college working toward a degree in his chosen area (Applied Welding Technologies).
We chose what is known as a 2+2 plan, where the price we pay includes tuiton for a 2 year college and then on to a 4 year college for 2 more years. We could have chosen from several different plans, ones that even include pre-paying for dormitory and full 4 year colleges.
Maybe I'm just out of context here, but I just figure parents are the most culpable for this -- they are the parents, so they should be responsible for planning for these things. That being said, I DO FEEL there is also ample and excessive waste within the university/college system(s), so much so that this explains a lot of the exorbitant tuition fees/academic expenses.
by Gary Wolfram
<!--BIO-->Gary Wolfram is George Munson Professor of Political Economy at Hillsdale College in Michigan.
<HR>Executive Summary
As Congress debates the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, it should heed Friedrich Hayek’s warning that democracy is “peculiarly liable, if not guided by accepted common principles, to produce over-all results that nobody wanted.” One result of the federal government’s student financial aid programs is higher tuition costs at our nation’s colleges and universities. Basic economic theory suggests that the increased demand for higher education generated by HEA will have the effect of increasing tuitions. The empirical evidence is consistent with that—federal loans, Pell grants, and other assistance programs result in higher tuition for students at our nation’s colleges and universities.
The Rest of the Article Here:
Making College More Expensive: The Unintended Consequences of Federal Tuition Aid (http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3344)
--------------------------------
I hope this doesn't sound as bad when reading it as it does as I think it, but sometimes the truth hurts. I am sick to death of hearing people complain about the cost of a college education. Anything worth anything comes with a price: hard work, sacrifice, and determination. Nothing worth anything is ever free, either.
People who have children MUST realize that at some point in time those cute little bundles-of-joy are going to grow up, and probably either they, the parents, will want them to, or the child(ren) themselves will want to, go to college. WHY then don't parents start when the children are born planning for that day by either putting money away or investing in some type of savings program for college or further eduction?
We are SO blessed in the state of Florida with a program called the Florida Prepaid College Plan. When li'l Bubba and li'l Bubbette were born we immediately begain their plans. For li'l Bubba we pay $23.93 every month, and $27.17 for li'l Bubbette, and have done so since they were one month old. We only owe approx. $800 more on li'l Bubba's plan, and once he completes his dual-enrollment program (the Lord Willing, and he is accepted) he will begin college working toward a degree in his chosen area (Applied Welding Technologies).
We chose what is known as a 2+2 plan, where the price we pay includes tuiton for a 2 year college and then on to a 4 year college for 2 more years. We could have chosen from several different plans, ones that even include pre-paying for dormitory and full 4 year colleges.
Maybe I'm just out of context here, but I just figure parents are the most culpable for this -- they are the parents, so they should be responsible for planning for these things. That being said, I DO FEEL there is also ample and excessive waste within the university/college system(s), so much so that this explains a lot of the exorbitant tuition fees/academic expenses.