New York Becomes Only State to Offer Free Four-Year College

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/new-york-becomes-first-state-offer-free-four-year-college-n744561

69 36 9 years ago

_m8fo2• 9 years ago

This is neat, but I wish education wasn't expensive to begin with.

Or better yet, just simply make education free via making the cost be capped at 5% of your yearly (before-tax) wage for Y years, or a total of $XXX,XXX, whichever comes first.

This is simple to implement and effectively shields those who have "useless degrees" as well. Everyone wins.

valuearb• 9 years ago

So middle class people should pay more taxes to subsidize the wealthy? Remember, college grads make several times more over their lifetime than high school grads.

_m8fo2• 9 years ago

Perhaps you misunderstand. Those attending the school would be the ones to pay. The policy I proposed wouldn't require anyone to pay any additional taxes.

eon12• 9 years ago

They're not very wealthy if they haven't attended the college and earned a lifetime's worth of money yet, though. And if they do go on to do so, they will (or should, rather) pay more tax than the people who subsidised them and thus contribute back. Also not sure how you define the middle class as high school grads.. that sounds more like working class to me.

brogrammernot2• 9 years ago

Programs like edX are making this a reality. Education does not have to be expensive and the sooner we realize that most college degrees are worthless in their practical application in the workforce the better off we will be.

eganist3• 9 years ago

Detail lost in the headline: Room & Board are not included.

What I foresee as a result: schools hiking Room & Board charges because "people can afford it." This step would've been far more effective if the state covered everything and price-locked it as a result; now schools will see the balance not paid by students on tuition as room for Room & Board charges to grow.

tdb7893• 9 years ago

at least for room and board you aren't required to actually atay at the university, most people I knew lived off-campus

eganist3• 9 years ago

That can easily change. Tons of universities require students to live n years on campus.

abalashov2• 9 years ago

Yes, but living off-campus isn't free either. That may get one out of hiked room/board/meal plan fees, but not out of the basic obstacle of affordability that stops many low-income people from going to college. Total cost of attendance can be prohibitive with or without tuition.

Yeah, there are more ways around it. One can work part-time. But my experience is that this is all a bit mythologised and represents a kind of superhuman best-case scenario.

Admittedly, I'm biased as a native Russian (in US since early childhood). In our part of the world, making school and university-age children work is still often regarded as a kind of violation of their human rights. "They need to learn financial responsibility" doesn't resonate strongly in cultures without this national folklore of individual self-reliance.

However, as far as I can tell, "working through college" isn't as easy as it's made out to be. In the real world, a good chunk of the kids that have to work enough alongside school to actually _support_ themselves (housing, food, necessities), rather than just earn some discretionary "spending money", don't end up doing well in school, for obvious reasons of nonlinear tradeoffs in human activities. After a 6-hour shift on my feet at the pizza joint, I'm probably going to want to come home and veg, not soar to the snow-capped summits of my survey of Western intellectual history until 2 AM ...

Being in tech, I got so engrossed in my work I dropped out to pursue my (at the time) meteorically ascendant career! :-) But that's a different — and decidedly luxurious — problem.

miranda_rights• 9 years ago

Good point. Some of the SUNY schools do require students to live on campus, although I think most students in NY could either live in off-campus apartments (which tend to be cheaper) or with their parents if they're local.

untog• 9 years ago

This is true. But also, in New York City at least, it will still be an opportunity for those who live in the city to attend college locally while still living at home.

neuromantik80862• 9 years ago

It's important to note too that, for CUNY at least, free tuition isn't a new policy, but rather a reversion to the state of affairs prior to the 70s NYC budget woes (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York#Ac...).

malandrew• 9 years ago

I suspect this could happen due to market forces as well. Now students in other states simply need to move to NY to establish residency in order to qualify. Most likely they would move to the area near their college campus of choice, driving up rents there.

builtinbuffalo• 9 years ago

There's more money in real estate.

The state owns much of the real estate around campuses across the state.

Give away the content, make your money back on rent and living fees.

Similar to their StartUP NY program which offers income tax relief in exchange for leasing state owned office space.

maverick_iceman• 9 years ago

I doubt very much that they have the funds to pay for it. We're probably looking at a Puerto Rico style bailout, only this time much bigger.

meri_dian• 9 years ago

The net result of highly affordable college will not be better employment opportunities for those who cannot afford college today. The net result will be increased competition for a limited number of quality jobs.

The value of a degree largely lies in its exclusivity. The increase in people going to grad school, particularly Master's programs, is a response to the increasing number of people with bachelor's degrees in the workforce.

This is not to say affordable college is a bad thing by any means.

InitialLastName2• 9 years ago

The net result of highly affordable college will be, at the very least, a better educated populace. In theory, this will make a workforce that is better at doing more valuable jobs.

vkou• 9 years ago

Like driving for Uber and not screwing up my double-caramel-infused iced soy mocha.

(I still wonder as to what kind of rube can get that wrong. I clearly said 'SOY MOCHA.')

We have plenty of qualified people. What we don't have are jobs where their qualifications are valued. See: the job market for hard sciences.

gozur88• 9 years ago

I'm not convinced. As more mediocre students get accepted to colleges the curriculum has to be dumbed down to accommodate them.

And, as others have noted, this is really pushing on a string. We're not doing anyone any favors by having them spend five or six years studying a field in which they'll never be able to find a job.

r00fus• 9 years ago

What if those 4-year grads went on to make their own companies and "grow the pie" so to speak?

brogrammernot2• 9 years ago

The perceived value of a degree may live in its exclusivity, but real value is any degree as still to this day a degree is a checkbox for many decent paying jobs.

The net result will indeed be better employment opportunities, as it opens up a large section of the job market requiring degrees across the United States.

They will be competing for better jobs than the ones they currently can get without a degree

jressey• 9 years ago

This may be arguable, but I perceive another 'net result' of fewer people having student loans.

Classical economics suggests this will lead to increased spending, growth, and higher employment. More money spent should also lead to higher wages.

Meph504• 9 years ago

People should do their homework, Louisiana has had a program to provide free tuition to its citizen's since 1998. To be fair, its been hit hard in the last few years, but it still around.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_F._Taylor#Taylor_Oppor...

eli_gottlieb2• 9 years ago

But for that you have to grow up in Louisiana, which most people don't.

New York Becomes Only State to Offer Free Four-Year College

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