STUDENT FINANCIAL aid is the hot new policy topic. Considering the University estimates the cost of attendance at just shy of $20,000 for Virginians and over $38,000 for non-Virginians, it's not hard to understand why. For most University students, that's a bill their parents have to foot. Luckily, our parents happen to belong to a demographic group that votes in high numbers. Add a dash of cynicism and suddenly we have legislative action.
Less than two weeks ago, Congress passed the College Affordability and Access Act of 2007, which includes the largest increase of student aid since the GI Bill. A report prepared by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions proclaims that "success in obtaining a college degree should be determined by ability and hard work, not by ability to pay." The University echoes these sentiments with AccessUVa which is "designed to keep higher education affordable for all admitted students regardless of economic circumstance." But is it actually good for everyone to have a college degree?
The Senate report bemoans that students with a high school diploma earn 70 percent less than those with just an undergraduate degree. "Over a lifetime," the report says, "the gap in earning potential between a person with a high school diploma and a bachelor's degree is $1 million." But this provides direct evidence against subsidizing college.
If college graduates earn so much more, then they should simply borrow against their massively increased future income. Well-paying jobs that require degrees don't need any federal encouragement: More than enough people already want to do them. People who truly want a college education have a ready and willing financial system to provide for them. Since committed students can attend college without aid, by borrowing, then the biggest beneficiaries are the less motivated students.
Financial aid encourages people who have no business being in college to attend. This causes two problems. First, bad students can be a drag on their classmates. Remember that guy from your hall first year who always tried to keep you from getting stuff done? Second, if everyone has a college degree, then our workforce will actually be too qualified to function properly.
America needs factory workers and waiters just as it needs medical researchers and lawyers. Yet Congress right now opposes both outsourcing and immigration -- the logical ways to fill this job gap. If mediocre students who get pushed into college by the lure of grants and aid end up working non-degree jobs anyway, then funding their education was surely a waste of society's resources.
The current system, in which the government and programs like AccessUVa lob need-based money at students, is inefficient. The proponents of student aid seem to have finally caught on, so they're trying a new argument: Higher education is a public good. Everyone benefits from kids going to college -- not just those actually getting educated, they argue. So without outside assistance, higher education would be under-provided.
The arguments for the public benefits of college have come from two different areas: politics and academia. Left-leaning politicians like to argue that high debt precludes graduates from going into social service jobs. The Senate report, which was mostly written by Ted Kennedy's staff, makes much of the fact that 37 percent of public college graduates and 55 percent of private college graduates couldn't afford their debt service on a social worker's salary. Same with 23 percent of public college graduates and 38 percent of private college graduates and teaching. These sound like scary numbers but actually completely miss the point.
It's true that many college graduates couldn't live on a social worker's starting salary. But there also aren't any headlines about social worker shortages, which means the salary is probably about right. Furthermore, most states have loan forgiveness programs for social workers and plenty of other public service jobs, including teaching, which the Senate report conveniently glosses over. For teachers, there is only a shortage of certain kinds: math and science. We have plenty of social studies teachers, but not nearly enough algebra or biology teachers. Giving kids money doesn't make them major in these difficult subjects and, therefore, doesn't solve our problem.
The academics focus on the non-monetary value of a degree. Research reveals that those with college degrees are more civically engaged, exercise more and are generally healthier. These are good for everyone and could justify doling out financial aid. But, as the Inside Higher Education Web site notes, these are merely correlations. It seems to me that the increased income from a degree really causes these observations. Someone with more money can afford a treadmill, newspaper subscription and health food. College doesn't give you extra benefits; it just gets you a better job and many people spend their money wisely.
There just doesn't seem to be a good reason to have so much financial aid. The $20 million that AccessUVa costs every year could get us a new physics lab or ten new, tenure-track professors. The only role for the government is to ensure that students have access to credit and that loan companies are obeying the law.
Josh Levy's columns appear Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at jlevy@cavalierdaily.com.
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