RECOMMENDED READING
President Joe Biden is hardly a model of rhetorical clarity. But two weeks ago, after canceling over half a trillion dollars in student debt with the stroke of a pen, he sent a message that could not have been clearer. “Education is a ticket to a better life,” he declared, but “12 years of universal education is not enough.” Every young American should go to college, and Uncle Sam (or Uncle Joe) should pick up the tab.
However novel its legal reasoning, Biden’s policy finds its roots in a half century of “College-for-All” education policy in the United States. Even before Biden’s boondoggle, the federal government was spending up to $200 billion in annual higher-education subsidies—up from $20 billion three decades ago and second only to Luxembourg on a per-student basis.
That spending might be justified if the system worked, but even by its own standards, College-for-All has been a disaster. Less than a fifth of high school students transition smoothly from high school to college to a career. Most young Americans, in other words, find themselves stuck either without a degree or without a job that requires one.
Recommended Reading
Complacency and Wasteful Spending Blight US Higher Education
American Compass’s Oren Cass makes the case against forgiving billions of dollars of student debt and for rethinking our approach to higher education.
Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness is Wrong. Here’s How to Handle College Debt Instead.
America has turned higher ed into a lavishly expensive sacred cow, and now we’re all footing the bill. Let’s make college debt boring again, argues Oren Cass.
College Is Not for All
American Compass’s Oren Cass and Wells King discuss the reality that most young Americans miss out on commencement.
