The issues of government subsidies is a very large one, but I’d primarily like to focus on the effect the government can have on our higher institutions of learning. In the first Presidential debate Obama stated that he wanted to make higher education more affordable. That begs a couple questions.

1) Is college affordable?

In the last post Trent said life was tough paying for three kids to go to college. Obama says college costs too much. So is college a bad deal? Even at current prices (which are already higher because of the government, but more on that in a minute) college is actually a good deal. Even if you finish college with a boat load of student loans, the extra money you will make as a result of that loan far out way having to pay it back.

When Obama says college is too expensive, what he’s really doing is telling “the poor” that he’d be glad to give them some free monies.

2) What effect does government aid have on tuition?

A basic understanding of economics makes it clear that throwing federal money into higher education makes the price go up. It’s simple supply and demand. The more free tuition there is, the more people want to go, and that demand makes the price go up. If you don’t believe me, believe the CATO Institute.

There are other examples of government subsidies, but I figure we can talk about higher education specifically. Obama brought it up, and like Andrew pointed out, there was no explanation of how he would pay for it. But assuming what I’ve pointed out in the above, even if Obama tries to make college more affordable by throwing money at it, that will only drive the price even higher.

Why not let people pay for it themselves? Oh right, because grossly misusing people’s tax dollars is the socialist way.