Free Public College

Assuming there is notice of the implementation of this program and that it doesn't occur retroactively to erase current debt, what are the likely outcomes?

If the government is going to completely pay for students attending public schools an important question lies in how much they are spending and who are they going to be subsidizing? School pricing on education is conditional i.e. a high sticker price is issued to students in order to fund scholarships and merit awards for their counterparts who performed better. Figuring out a real price for the education is going to be an intense debate because the transaction model now is no longer a private interaction and funding will likely be kicked back to taxpayers and not be absorbed from government grants, since STEM and grant measures originated from the pocket of government good will in the first place. It's hard to imagine all the possibilities because it's a multi-faceted issue to be addressed. No one here is a school administrator nor knows how student tuition is invested into the University. Similarly, no one knows how much schools up scale their tuition with respective to the cost of maintaining their services.

With respect to CDO or CDS, there is going to be consumer panic and investors are going to short-term short their options resulting in reduced value. However, a gradual transition process and tight government controls and regulations would determine whether we are looking at another catastrophe or a short-term loss. If investors do not collectively attempt to jump off the ship at the same time when it is burning there should be liquidity as student loans are usually not the main feature of CDO/CDS culture. However, they are regarded as one of the safest investments.

If the government is going to completely pay for students attending public schools an important question lies in how much they are spending and who are they going to be subsidizing? School pricing on education is conditional i.e. a high sticker price is issued to students in order to fund scholarships and merit awards for their counterparts who performed better. Figuring out a real price for the education is going to be an intense debate because the transaction model now is no longer a private interaction and funding will likely be kicked back to taxpayers and not be absorbed from government grants, since STEM and grant measures originated from the pocket of government good will in the first place. It's hard to imagine all the possibilities because it's a multi-faceted issue to be addressed. No one here is a school administrator nor knows how student tuition is invested into the University. Similarly, no one knows how much schools up scale their tuition with respective to the cost of maintaining their services.

With respect to CDO or CDS, there is going to be consumer panic and investors are going to short-term short their options resulting in reduced value. However, a gradual transition process and tight government controls and regulations would determine whether we are looking at another catastrophe or a short-term loss. If investors do not collectively attempt to jump off the ship at the same time when it is burning there should be liquidity as student loans are usually not the main feature of CDO/CDS culture. However, they are regarded as one of the safest investments.

Is this under the assumption it will replace universities? I feel as though this type of program will be an extension of public education, with like private schools, universities will be the pay for more alternative. Now how much merrit a free college will hold well, I can't speak for that either

Is this under the assumption it will replace universities? I feel as though this type of program will be an extension of public education, with like private schools, universities will be the pay for more alternative. Now how much merrit a free college will hold well, I can't speak for that either

I don't understand, I didn't suggest a replacement measure. To reiterate, I don't believe that the sticker price on colleges are solely intended for maintaining the campus and the education you receive. There has always been a wealth distribution mechanism in place where high income students with poor scores have paid full sticker price for their education allowing universities to set up scholarship programs to redistribute the funding to poorer students or academically prized students. If the government is going to subsidize public education then there is going to be an audit in order to derive expenses and there won't be a need for a sticker price distribution system if the government is going to fund the entire undergraduate admissions system for a given public school. Aside from that, the school I went to aggressively tried to expand their football program to the point where 8% annual hikes on tuition were becoming the norm. If you drove to Busch campus they were constructing a Football Meet & Greet Building that corresponded at the timing of the hikes and also a move from Big East to the Big Ten which is a more competitive league with respect to football. If the government does take on this task, their focus isn't going to be expanding sports teams, but a focus on making sure that the poorest students get the education they need to change their situation around. Things are going to drastically change whether it comes to slashing or expansion because the source of income is no longer going to be private and the free market dynamic that is using student's tuition to redo a million dollar stadium is going to be scrutinized.

Government scholarships have always existed, however have always been highly conditional. STEM funding was available to me during the four years I was a student, however the National Science Foundation stopped funding our program during my third year and only continued the program due to insistence from the Program Coordinator and Head of the Department to continue funding the students who already had received the initial scholarship because certain students were recruited on the basis of this scholarship from other majors (guess who). A lot of college students don't aggressively pursue financing options for themselves. During my time at university, as far as I was aware I was the only one hunting for scholarships in my free time. I don't know why no one was taking this easy money people were handing out, perhaps they felt intimidated about writing letters to organizations intended with helping them obtain merit scholarships and financial aid. There was almost a Stockholm revelry where a lot of my classmates discussed their high debt load constantly, however made no measure in order to get out of it. They couldn't see outside the school or try to consider options that weren't given to them. I didn't raise this point to debunk a free public education, but to emphasize that there is money floating around in both public and private spheres that many, many, many students don't take the initiative to grab as much as they can for themselves. There is a stigma that students are victims of an unfair education model. I agree that the model is flawed and I do think that students are taken advantage of in many respects, however I don't believe that students are entirely victim to the circumstances and many of them are just not proactive in escaping the hole they find themselves in. Especially in a public school system, I believe that there were more scholarship opportunities than if I had gone to a private institution.