“Free college” is probably the worst way to go about providing free college

There's a bunch of different ways that you can implement free college, and some are obviously better than others. Here are two hypothetical scenarios:<br><br>Scenario 1: “free college”<br><br>The government steps in and pays your tuition.<br><br>You: +$0, Government: -tuition<br><br>Win-lose. You came out even, sure, but someone had to pay for your tuition. The loser in this scenario is probably going to be someone else, most likely future University students. If the government is paying your tuition now, it probably means that they're raising taxes or increasing student loans in the future. Raising taxes means that everyone who pays taxes is paying more to provide a service that only benefits a smaller portion of the population, increasing the cost of goods for everyone. Increasing student loans increases the burden on future students, so the same people who got "free college" are going to be the ones paying more for it down the line.<br><br>Scenario 2: "free college" via a guaranteed minimum wage<br><br>The government sets the minimum wage at $40k, and makes having one mandatory.<br><br>You: +tuition, Government: -$40k<br><br>Now the loss here isn't tuition, it's the lost productivity, since someone is going to have to pay you to sit in class and someone else is going to have to pay for your degree. The benefit of course is that you get to walk out of university with no debt, and a guaranteed job, and since the minimum wage is $40k, the job you get in college is going to be at least that much.