That’s not good evidence at all, you’re making massive assumptions that don’t hold up. I did already provide some hard evidence you ignored: several other countries are already paying for education for all interested citizens and are doing better than the US by economic measures, not worse.
My salary is not my GDP. The financial cost of a loan is not equal to the financial value education provides to society. I’m asked to pay back my loan very early in my career in my 20s, before I have the chance to build a career and accumulate any savings. On top of that, the financial cost of education has risen faster than inflation for a few decades due to incentives that wouldn’t exist if education was provided.
According to the St Louis Fed, among other sources, income taxes collected on college grads is more than 2x the taxes collected on people without degrees, and the lifetime total collected for college grads is many multiples of what college costs even today. Think about the taxes a little harder and it should become obvious that it’s a waste of tax money to not ensure that everyone who wants a degree should get one without having a financial burden. We won’t spend more tax money providing free education, we will collect more tax money.
My salary is not my GDP. The financial cost of a loan is not equal to the financial value education provides to society. I’m asked to pay back my loan very early in my career in my 20s, before I have the chance to build a career and accumulate any savings. On top of that, the financial cost of education has risen faster than inflation for a few decades due to incentives that wouldn’t exist if education was provided.
According to the St Louis Fed, among other sources, income taxes collected on college grads is more than 2x the taxes collected on people without degrees, and the lifetime total collected for college grads is many multiples of what college costs even today. Think about the taxes a little harder and it should become obvious that it’s a waste of tax money to not ensure that everyone who wants a degree should get one without having a financial burden. We won’t spend more tax money providing free education, we will collect more tax money.