Public college was never “cheap.” It was funded by taxpayers who saw higher education as a public good. Then came tax cuts for the rich, budget cuts for education, and rising tuition. Now we’re told debt is the only way forward.
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California had free college until Reagan became governor. He didn’t want “just anyone to go to college” because he feared an “educated liberal proletariat.”
It's a dangerous change in priorities that it used to be important that students could be free to focus on their studies, but now a degree is a sign that students were committed enough to incur crippling debt and juggle academics with full-time work to gain a credential.
1970: Work a summer job → pay tuition.
2024: Work a full-time job → still need loans.
The problem isn’t that young people don’t want to work. The problem is that wages stayed flat while tuition skyrocketed.
Tuition at my private university was under 4K when I started in 1978, and around 5K when I graduated. Tuition at that school is now 60K. That's $18,000 vs. $240,000.
My first job paid 18K - the cost of my degree. Nobody graduating with my degree today is walking into a 240K job.
Doesn't help that our society at large has taken the attitude that the purpose of school is job training and that education for its own sake is a waste.
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https://www.continents.us/history-of-tuition-free-education-in-the-usa/
2024: Work a full-time job → still need loans.
The problem isn’t that young people don’t want to work. The problem is that wages stayed flat while tuition skyrocketed.
My first job paid 18K - the cost of my degree. Nobody graduating with my degree today is walking into a 240K job.
✅ Restore public funding
✅ Expand Pell Grants
✅ Regulate tuition hikes
Instead, we got a $1.7 trillion student debt crisis.
It also affects how they vote.