Here is Daniel Oliver at The Federalist's proposal:
(1) canceling all student loans owed to the federal government and paying off all loans owed to private institutions and (2) eliminating all federal aid, grants, support, etc. to postsecondary educational institutions. It’s a package deal: no elimination of aid, no cancellation of debts.
Read the whole thing.
If you like wedge issues, is a very interesting proposal. I could see Glenn Reynolds liking it.
(1) canceling all student loans owed to the federal government and paying off all loans owed to private institutions and (2) eliminating all federal aid, grants, support, etc. to postsecondary educational institutions. It’s a package deal: no elimination of aid, no cancellation of debts.
Read the whole thing.
If you like wedge issues, is a very interesting proposal. I could see Glenn Reynolds liking it.
Worst idea I've heard in a long time. I don't know who Daniel Oliver is, but I'm guessing he's a lawyer.
ReplyDeleteObviously writing off hundreds of millions of dollars of debt is problematic, but again it also ends hundreds of millions of subsidies. What is perverse is federal support of schools has increased the cost of education. I think it has no chance of passing, but it is an interesting way of severing off colleges from the federal teat. I liked it as a wedge issue.
DeleteThere's no way--none, zero, zip, nada, rien--that federal support for universities will ever end. For one thing, subsidizing basic research is a core government task. For another, every State U. is a pork-barrel project for every Congressperson.
ReplyDeleteWith a proposal like this, the debt forgiveness is forever, while the cuts in grants last until the next budget cycle. Plus, how will you credibly commit to never doing this again? You can't. The next generation of borrowers will demand the same treatment, on grounds of equal treatment under law. This would wind up being a gigantic subsidy to higher ed.
It's so poorly thought out, and so sweeping, that it just has to be the product of a lawyer's attempt at strategery.
I do not have the number in front of me, but federal subsidies of basic research is probably a small percentage, compared the billions thrown at schools. But for practical purposes you are right, but we have managed to subsidize colleges and universities in a manner that results in students paying more not less. That takes real talent...that only government can provide.
DeleteThis is def. an issue that should concern the Repubs; I just don't think this is a good approach.
ReplyDeleteDown in Chile the big leftist cause is free higher ed. I see that as the likely next phase of fretting over student loan debt in the US. I think Glenn Reynolds is being extremely short-sighted in his endless posting about the burden of student debt, b/c he seems to think that the only alternative is lean, efficient college administration. Well, that just ain't so, IMO.
So far, university educations are one of our most successful exporting industries (lots of foreign students come here). Our K-12 system falls well short of "world class" status. Anyone who thinks college profs are bad now should imagine them all as having the same basic employment contracts as HS teachers.