Dr. Richard Vedder
Dr. Richard Vedder, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at Ohio University, was quoted in a Stock News Feed article headlined “51% of young Americans support tuition-free public college.”
This comparison to American K-12 education is one reason that opponents have given in the past for rejecting free college initiatives.
“Everyone says America has a high-quality education system, many say we have the best in the world. People flock to our country to go to university, but no one says that about our K-12 schools — no one,” Richard Vedder, professor of economics at Ohio University, tells CNBC Make It. “Part of the reason for that is we have a competitive system in higher education that we don’t have in K-12. We have fee market-based elements of our higher ed system, where people do pay money, so people have skin in the game.”
Vedder argues that given the current deficit, the U.S. is unable to fund spending on free education initiatives.
“If you give truly free college — such as free community college or two years of free college at a traditional four-year college or whatever the policy might be — you are going to include a number of people receiving tuition from the government that are from wealthy families,” he says. “If you wanted to help low-income people get a college degree, there are better ways to do that. It’s better to keep the traditional system and target low-income people with aggressive need-based aid.
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