Free community college is a swell idea, but not if I’m paying for it
Governor Phil Murphy is doing a fantastic job, assuming that job is to make sure his 2021 re-election campaign Hindenburgs. I mean, it’s almost like he’s laying out the red carpet to the next wave of Republican leaders in New Jersey.
It started stupidly enough a few weeks back when he decided to raise the sales tax back up to 7 percent, something he announced in his budget address. If you remember, the sales tax is currently 6.625 percent, a ridiculous-looking number former Governor Chris Christie negotiated in order to pass 23-cent gas tax hike.
So shortly, we’ll not only still have the higher gas tax, but we’ll also have the old, higher sales tax. Well done, Phil!
And last week, Murphy outlined his “free” community college plan, a plan that is most certainly not free in every way imaginable.
In fact, for many of us, it will be a double-whammy: Not only will we still be on the hook for our own kid’s college tuition, we’ll also be on the hook for other family’s kids.
In the first year of Murphy’s big “free” plan, “free” would only apply to students from families making less than $45,000 a year. Which is nice, if you’re making less than $45,000 a year, but no so nice if you’re making a dollar more. Remember when Murphy’s “free” plan was for everybody? In year one, it wouldn’t be. It would, according to his estimates, only apply to about 15,000 students. And it would cost, by his estimates, $50 million.
But fear not: By year three of Murphy’s plan, it will be free for everyone. He figures this will cost about $200 million, which - again, based on his math - would be 60,000 students.
He’s wrong. There are over 325,000 students enrolled each year in county colleges in New Jersey, according to the New Jersey Council of County Colleges. And while (obviously) not everyone is going full-time, plenty are.
Furthermore — and even more obviously — if it’s time for my kid to go to college and my choices come down to paying to send them to a 4-year school or sending them for free to MCCC, you better believe I’m sending them for free. And I wouldn’t be alone.
New Jersey graduates nearly 100,000 high school students a year. There would be a mad rush to community colleges. Unless your kid is getting a scholarship to a 4-year, you’d have to be insane, rich, or dumb to fork over the dough and forgo a free 2-year education at county college before heading off to Rutgers, Penn State, or wherever.
Dig it: In Tennessee, where a Republican governor put through a similar plan, there was over a 30 percent increase in freshman at both community colleges and technical schools.
So yeah, Murphy’s $200 million is a pipe dream. It would certainly be closer to $500 million, if not more.
And mind you — this is all for something that’s not exactly expensive to begin with.
An associate’s degree can be had for about $15,000 in tuition. Now I’m not saying $15,000 is chump change, but I am saying taking out a $15,000 loan at 2 percent interest over 20 years - that’s 75 bucks a month — is certainly doable.
And yeah, I know there’s no such thing as a 2 percent loan, but the state could certainly implement that. As a taxpayer, I’ll suffer the slight inflationary loss over paying out of pocket every year. And that’s just one idea that’s better than spraying taxpayer money all over the place.
Listen: I love the idea of a free college education. It’s lovely. In a perfect world we can make it happen. Other countries do it. Other states do it. (In New York, if you make less that $125,000 a year, your kid can go to any state college for free). And look at me: I have three kids and have thus far managed to save the sum total of $0 for their college education. No one would benefit more than me in a “free” scenario.
So yes. In a perfect world, it’s a great idea.
But New Jersey isn’t a perfect world. New Jersey is a taxed-outthe-wazoo world, and unless there are big cuts coming out the other end, I’m perfectly content not giving college away for free.