President Obama recently proposed to make two years of community college free for students. He said, "What I’d like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for everybody who’s willing to work for it."
Here are some questions.
- Is the opportunity cost zero for a student going to college if the government pays the tuition?
- Is the opportunity cost zero for colleges providing the courses if the government pays the tuition?
- Is the opportunity cost zero of "work[ing] for it"?
- Is the opportunity cost zero of verifying that a student has a C+ average, that the student is making "steady progress", that "community colleges ... offer academic programs that fully transfer credits to local public four-year colleges and universities or training programs with high graduation rates that lead to in-demand degrees and certificates [and] ... adopt 'promising and evidence-based institutional reforms' to improve student outcomes"?
- What happens to the quantity of other goods and services produced when colleges and the IRS hire more instructors, staff, and administrators, buy more computers and supplies, and rent or build more buildings to provide additional education and tax services?
- Who pays any of the costs above if they are greater than zero?
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