Washington promise program

Democrats in our state just proposed an unfunded plan to provide free tuition to community colleges. If you have followed my blog at all, you already know where I stand on this one. Check out Misconception #13 for what I have stated about the idea of free or affordable college fixing our problems. I am going to repeat a few of these statements as I respond to some of the things I read in an AP article (although I do not approve of reliance of the AP for local stories) at Komo's website.


I want to emphasize a quote that we provided in support of this plan, "We know that a high school diploma, while still foundational for every student, is simply not enough." This was from Pramila Jayapal, a senator attached to this proposal.

What have I said about the narrowing (but admittedly still existent) gap between schooling success among the rich and the poor? We shifted job requirements to college. This is because employers like to use schooling history as a filter for applications. If more people meet the job requirements and apply, more schooling will be required. Jobs that used to accept diplomas now require college degrees. Why would reducing the same gap in college be any different? More than likely, colleges with better reputations and even some post-graduate schooling would be necessary to stand out for these jobs designed for the high school level. The value of a college degree in a community college today will become about as worthless as a high school diploma has become.

Funding is another big problem. The money has to come from somewhere. This means that we will likely be taxed more heavily. Everyday citizens and/or businesses could be targeted. That means that we will either have less money to spend or the cost of living will be forced up by businesses trying to recover their additional expenses.

The return on investment is nonsense. These arguments are usually based on college graduates in comparison to high school graduates. Again, this plan will devalue college success. Requirement for "skilled" jobs (another argument they made that I don't like - it's already on my list of future misconceptions) will no longer be met by going through a community college. This is the same thing we saw with high school.

We have already seen all of this. Improved accessibility of high school backfired. Why would the same concept suddenly work if we tried it again? I'm sorry, but I would much rather fix our problems than repeat them.