The Case Against College Entitlements : Why We Don't Need More Public Funding For Higher Education

President Barack Obama has declared that his administration aims to make college affordable to everyone by greatly expanding government aid to middle class families. The Washington Post says that Obama's higher education proposals, which include creating a brand new Pell Grant entitlement, "could transform the financial aid landscape for millions of students while expanding federal authority to a degree that even Democrats concede is controversial."

But what if President Obama has it backwards? What if America is sending too many people to college?

A recent study found that "Nationally, four-year colleges graduated an average of just 53% of entering students within six years." If 40 percent of students who enter college drop out before graduation and over 50 percent of students take six years to graduate, perhaps Obama is focusing on the wrong issue.

Reason.tv's Michael C. Moynihan sat down with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and the American Enterprise Institute's Charles Murray, author of the recent book Real Education, to analyze how Obama's higher-education plans will impact the economic and cultural future of the United States.

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• education
• pell grants
• obama
• entitlements

[idealtypical]

"I don't agree with Charles murray position on most people being too intellectually deficient to handle college material."

I agree, for the economic reason you cite, but also because in my opinion the vast majority of what passes for "raw intelligence" is basically bullshit/smoke & mirrors: a class-ridden, European vision of edu.

We should recapture the attitude of the Founders: they were brilliant autodidacts & amateurs. Jefferson's vision of edu was one of lifelong learning & intell. growth.

[tkullervo]

The subsidizes are a large part of the reason that college is so expensive in the first place. In the 60's and 70's, American universities, which boasted world class education, was seven times cheaper. People could afford to save up, or work their way through. This was before massive public subsidization.

[issagc]

Paul Ryan is not a credible person on this issue. He took survivors benefits to fund his college tuition. Students in Europe go to college for near to nothing, why cant we do that here. So what if taxes are raised on the rich or even on the middle class. They get that money back by being able to send their kids to receive higher education

[PANDAjoe2x]

Murray obtained a B.A. in history from Harvard in 1965 and a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974.[3]

So he gets his educations and then tells us not to get educated.

Where would he be without that education. Working at Walmart part-time, greeting people.

[Benable7]

Bullshit! Look at all the foreign students coming here for educations in science, math, technology that are financed by their govtmts. Have you been to an IT dept or hospital in the US. They are full of foreign workers because we lack education in several fields!

[ianhowe007]

Ryan is here to talk you into giving it all you have to the rich

[Loststory08]

I would like to see more of that Charles Murray interview. Is there a link to a full video?

[gracilism]

@idealtypical My college experience was similar. I went on a full-ride academic scholarship, and it still slapped me in the face. I was a double major (Chemistry/ Biology) and it took two years to figure out how to study and prioritize my time. I wasn't partying, but my scholarship was long gone by then. I made it within four years, but I was near the top of my high school class (top 5% of 500), and I still struggled. If I went when I was 20, it would have been a much easier transition.

[idealtypical]

@idealtypical I lacked the capacity to decide what I wanted from college (& life) & channel my energy toward pursuing it. This is often mistaken for 'a lack of work ethic'. Our present economy illustrates that 'hard work' only gets you so far. The USA is FILLED w/ young adults, willing & mature enough to work hard. Trouble is, nobody's hiring them. So, they lack—along w/health ins & income—meaningful outlets for their energy/ambitions, stuck in M&D's basement, delaying marriage, kids, adulthood.

[idealtypical]

@gracilism That was def. true of me. @ 18 I wasn't CLOSE to ready for college, but there I was, because it was expected of me. I wasn't even mature enough to consider a year off. It didn't occur to me: no active pressure—I simply knew that not going would've FREAKED my parents out.

What you're calling a 'mature work ethic' I'd simply call maturity. Whatever it was, I didn't have it & I knew it. I wasn't lazy or dumb, Like many so-called middle-class kids, I'd come from a sheltered background, &

[gracilism]

@idealtypical Education takes a basic knowledge, from which to build on, and a mature work ethic. This is where many 18 year olds fall short. Thus, are not ready to handle college.

[ForTehNguyen]

govt blowing up the college tuition market just like they did for the housing market by giving everyone loans that cant pay it back