The College Fix

Before I transferred to San Diego State University, I attended a community college.

That was back in the 1990s, and it was ludicrously cheap. I recall I paid about $90 bucks a class at Santa Barbara City College. I checked my old college’s website Thursday night for a cost comparison, and the price hasn’t gone up too much – it stands at roughly $150 a class now.

My point is – community college is not expensive. It’s not out of reach for low- to middle-class families. Not by a long shot. I paid my way through community college waiting tables at local restaurants. It was one of the best times of my life. Yes, my parents chipped in to help make ends meet, but by no means did I enjoy a free ride. 

The experience taught me how to work hard, take care of myself, and be responsible and independent. It was a rite of passage I cherish to this day. I gained discipline, and came to understand the value of hard work and the enjoyment and satisfaction of a job well done.

Perhaps that is why, when I heard of President Obama’s new plan to make community college free, I immediately groaned. It’s a horrible idea.

Once again Obama – a.k.a. America’s Sugar Daddy – has shown that he wants to win the youth vote by appealing to its greedy, lazy, self-entitled side – and at the same time making them more dependent on the federal government. Because that’s how Democrats win votes.

If Obama really wanted to help young people, he’d teach them how to fish instead of giving them a fish everyday. His plan stands against the longstanding American principle of chasing the dream with rugged individualism and determination.

Where in our founding documents does it say federal and state coffers should shoulder higher education? For that matter, where does it say we are entitled to free birth control and cell phones? But I digress.

This plan would strap American taxpayers with tens of billions of dollars of new debt every year.

This at a time when the national debt stands at nearly $20 trillion dollars – and that’s not including the estimated $70 trillion in off-balance-sheet commitments from Medicare, Social Security, student loan guarantees and other future federal government promises that actually makes our debt stand at more like $90 trillion dollars, some economists have calculated.

The last thing this country needs is another massive entitlement.

And who gets to pay for all this debt? The young people Obama is claiming to want to help. If he really wanted to help young people, he’d propose Social Security reform, or overhaul the student loan racket.

The feds make billions of dollars off student loans annually. These government-backed loans – which are as easy to get as a gallon of milk at the store – have actually increased the price of a degree, as tuition prices have skyrocketed far greater than inflation rates and continue to do so because everyone can get a loan and school administrators know it.

With that, the incentive to keep costs down has vanished. School bureaucracy is far less efficient and bloated because of all the “free government money” being throw at it.

Obama’s free community college money is going to drive up the cost of community college – which has remained affordable for so long – and stick the rising expense directly on the backs of the American taxpayer.

Never does the price of something decrease when the government gets involved. Health insurance, anyone?

Jennifer Kabbany is editor of The College Fix (@JenniferKabbany)

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IMAGE: SS&SS, Flickr