Free Education For Everyone, so says Hillary. You betcha.

Discussion in 'Politics Discussion' started by baudwalk, Aug 14, 2015.

  1. baudwalk

    baudwalk Senior Investor

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  2. petesede

    petesede Guest

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    There are states like Georgia that already do this. In Ga if you graduate with a B average, you can attend any state school for free, like the University of Georgia, but there are also about a dozen other smaller state schools. It works.

    I also live in a country now where basically the same thing happens. There are public universities, including a medical school that are completely free if you maintain your grades.

    I am not a socialist, but healthcare and education are too areas where cut-throat economics are not in the best interest of the country.
     
  3. JessieJ

    JessieJ Guest

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    This is a great idea! It'll benefit the kids who parents are not able to pay for college.
     
  4. baudwalk

    baudwalk Senior Investor

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    http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-350-billion-plan-to-make-college-affordable/

    My mind must be warped. I don"t get the types of responses above. Who do you think is going to foot the $350B to fund the program? There is a little matter of a $18T national debt already in play. Or don't you pay taxes? Why should I have to pay taxes because others can't or won't manage money to help their chilf/children go to college? (And I won't ask the usual can-of-worms questions of should everyone go to college and what constitutes a worthwhile major/ minor degree program?)

    For the record, I paid cash for my child's college by taking from a payroll check an automatic direct deposit amount into a credit union. I did that for every paycheck, and increased the witholding by not taking home a cost of living increase or salary bump due to a job change in those 10 years. Yes I could purchased new cars or a larger house, but it was more important to help the family. And no monthly carryover balances on credit cards either. It's called common sense, people, nothing magic about what I did.
     
  5. pwarbi

    pwarbi Senior Investor

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    Another false promises that is probably just made to get some media attention and maybe a few more votes I would have to imagine.

    When candidates are fighting for votes, it's becoming easier now to just say you'll do whatever people want, actually putting it into practice when or if they get elected is a different matter.
     
  6. gmckee1985

    gmckee1985 Senior Investor

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    There is nothing "free". Heavily subsidizing education does nothing but increase its cost? We have to many people who shouldnt be in college wasting time on useless degrees. A lot of kids go into major debt and cant even land a job in their field.
     
  7. Rosyrain

    Rosyrain Senior Investor

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    I strongly support the idea of kids who make a specific grade point average being able to go to a state university for free. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was still unsure of how I was going to pay for college. It was a struggle and I am still paying of student debt. Had I had the opportunity to get excellent grades in exchange for free tuition, I would have been all over it, and a straight A student to boot!
     
  8. crimsonghost747

    crimsonghost747 Senior Investor

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    Because, in my opinion, educations is the ONE thing that should be free and completely accessible to everyone. And by that I don't mean any idiot can go to medical school but I mean that by passing a certain criteria (for example: you have 100 places for X school so they take the 100 who score highest on the entry exam or have the best grades from the previous education) you should be able to get education. Now it's not the smartest kids that get to be scientist and doctors, it's the kids with the richest parents. So what happens to the smart kids with no money? They end up working low end jobs because they simply cannot afford university etc. Scholarships help with this but I highly doubt they solve the problem. Education is the one thing most European countries get right: the ones who are the smartest go to the school they want, the less smart pick from what is left.

    $350 billion spread over 10 years is not a lot, especially when you consider what there is to gain. By contrast, the USA spends about $37 billion each year in foreign aid. Ohh wait... that is already $370 billion over 10 years, assuming that this spending stays at the current level. Also, that $35 billion a year is less than 1% of the total budget....

    That being said, I highly doubt Clinton actually plans to make this happen. It's just another false promise.
     
  9. petesede

    petesede Guest

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    $35 Billion a year is not that much compared to other stuff we are spending money on including subsidies to mega-farmers, subsides to businesses, foreign aid... and the insane amount we spend on defense and the department of homeland security. The USA spends twice as much money on ´defense´ as the next 10 highest countries combined. If we went to war against the next 9 biggest countries, we would still win based on the amount we spend.

    Do not forget history. One of the reasons our country became what it is today is because at the end of the 1800s, public and free high schools became the norm. It is no coincidence that a generation or two later, we went from being a second tier nation to being one of the dominate nations.
     
  10. PipCurrencies

    PipCurrencies Well-Known Member

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    Just tonight at dinner my 9 year old was asking about how he could pay for pilot lessons. I told him he could join the Air Force to become a pilot for free. My friend is a doctor and he got his education in the Navy. It seems to me that anyone who wants one can already get a free education.
     

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