Nick Gillespie: Why Students—and Obama—Should Shut Up Already About College Costs
It's back-to-college time, writes Nick Gillespie,
which means it's the season for bitching and moaning about rising college costs, lack of access to higher education, and the pressing need for even more taxpayer-funded subsidies to the leaders of tomorrow. In just the past few weeks, we've been subjected to breathless reports that "college tuition costs" have risen 500 percent since 1985 and a mini campaign swing by President Obama touting more free money for students and a federally sanctioned knockoff of college guides already provided by the Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly, Barron's, and countless other sources.
Enough already. The plain facts are that college is still well within reach of most Americans, the wage premium for a college sheepskin remains huge, and student loans are not a new form of indentured servitude. You wouldn't get any of that from grandstanding politicians always looking for a new way to rob Peter to buy Paul's vote, an educational establishment that's always on the hunt for new revenue sources, and a news media that alternates between the credulity and ignorance of, well, a first-semester freshman.