Student loan forgiveness and free college are bad ideas.

[Minoosh]

No doubt the USSR emphasized STEM programs and strongly encouraged individuals with appropriate potential to pursue their education and training in these ahead.

The business manager at a high school where I tutored was educated in the Soviet system. She walked into one session where a group of 14-year-olds were rebelling over learning the quadratic formula. She more or less rolled her eyes later and said in the Soviet Union, the message was basically "Here's the quadratic formula - it works." The lesson took about 10 minutes and you were expected to master it in that time.

 

[Roboramma]

I am not the person who posted the unfavorable opinion upthread but I too have mixed feelings about this. I see it as essentially a form of indentured servitude (with a wider choice of who to serve after graduation).

Another way to look at it is that is very much a loan, but one that is paid off by sweat equity. Or a loan whose rates of payment reflect one's income, which might sound good to some but I am certain the student can't decide to just remain unemployed after graduation and pay back nothing.

Sorry, I thought you pay back a percentage of income above some threshold? So if your degree didn't actually turn into a high income, you don't end up struggling with debt. This seems like it works out better for those who are served poorly by the system, whereas those who succeed fund the system with their success, but they are also the ones who can most afford to do so.

The only problem I'm seeing is that it might be harder for those less likely to get high paying jobs to get this kind of funding, as they'd be seen as a bad investment. We're putting more risk on the institutions putting out the money, so they'll be more picky about candidates.

With the right cautions and regulations this strategy may indeed help people to get training in the majors that are most marketable as high paying careers (I presume the contracts are most available and have the best deals for these types of majors). The free market, right? Fine! But the free market can be abused, and in this case doesn't help as much those with less high paying career goals

Once again I wish to emphasize that higher education is, and should be, much more than vocational training. It makes for a better society if done right , or for just cogs in the wheels of an unjust society if done wrong. These contracts can help pay for higher education for some. But producing graduates who must serve the goals of "the state" as in some dictatorships, or a private enterprise, as here, is something that one must be very cautious about.

I think you're making an argument here that lower paying fields have an aspect of public goods that aren't reflected in higher salaries, and as such the public sector should be funding these goods by paying for people's education in them.

I think that's likely true, but there's a discussion about how much value, and how much public funding should go to them.
That's a different question from how much public funding should go to education in general where the increased productivity of the whole economy is also a public good, but it's separate from the benefits to society that you're saying aren't captured by productivity (and thus not reflected in salaries). I think it's important to distinguish those two things.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

This is a big problem, IMO. I don't see any reason not to broaden this to include trade schools. Maybe ideally you'd have 2-year community college degrees that also certify you in vocational fields. A 4-year college degree is not for everyone.

Every credit I got from community college counted for my bachelor's. (Tuition was $180 per semester!) It was nice to have, but my clerical skills were more relevant to getting a job which fortunately turned into a career. I had a writing degree and I got a writing job, but they really didn't have much to do with each other.

Later I got certified to teach, and the academic work had little to do with effective classroom practice. I did that through a private college that charged $5,000 per semester. I was steered hard toward financial aid but didn't end up needing it.

Ah, trade schools and colleges are also included in the proposed plans. I was referring to public vs private, out-of-state universities.