openpolitics.com

The Cuomo College Fiasco

He could have spent more to help students become academically ready for college, which is the biggest barrier to graduation.

.. But in 2016 Bernie Sanders made a big splash on the campaign trail with a plan to make college “free.”

.. If he runs for president, this will be an outstanding talking point. Unfortunately, the law will hurt actual New Yorkers.

.. First, the law is regressive. It does nothing to help students from families earning less than $50,000 a year. Their tuition is already covered by other programs. But it does pay for tuition for New Yorkers who make double the state’s median income. The higher up the income scale you go, until the ceiling, the more you benefit.

.. Second, it doesn’t make a dent in reducing the nontuition fees, like living expenses, textbooks and travel, which for many students are far more onerous than tuition.

Third, it doesn’t cover students who don’t go to school full time and don’t complete in four years. In 2017 this is the vast, vast majority of all students, especially poorer students.

 .. Fifth, Cuomo’s law threatens to destroy some of New York’s private colleges

.. If upper-middle-class students are drawn away to public colleges, private ones may close. That hurts the state’s educational diversity, it destroys jobs and it hurts the state.

.. Sixth, the law may widen the gap between rich and poor. When state schools are “free,” more people will apply.

.. The universities will try to claw back the private money with dorm fees, activities fees and other charges that don’t officially count as tuition

.. Finally, the law will hurt its recipients’ future earnings. Students who receive free tuition for four years have to remain in New York State for four years after graduating, or pay the money back.

.. They’ll be trapped in a state with one really expensive city, and other regions where good jobs are scarce.

.. many of the people who try to use government to do good just haven’t thought things through.