Pete Buttigieg argues against free college. This is why progressives can't agree about subsidizing t

[tymorial]

12. As a concept: free college its fine. Practically speaking, what does that actually mean?

Does free college degree mean all programs or only those that generate sufficient revenue for the institution? Will state universities slash departments with fewer matriculating students or divert funding for improvements to those departments? For many students who wish to study traditional liberal and performing art subjects, state school is their only avenue due to cost. I've known some absolutely amazing and talented individuals who came from poor backgrounds and their only opportunity was a state college. Some were talented enough to secure acceptance at larger private institutions (often with some scholarship) but that was only after proving their worth and value. Many others simply just wanted to study music, art, theatre, or literature etc accepting that they would never find positions within those fields post grad. Some became teachers but others (like myself) went in different directions. We had no choice.

This was 20 years ago and almost across the country many states have reduced their funding even more. All of this has occurred while tuition rises. Many facilities receive more funding from the federal government than they do their own state. What is common today however is students are paying more for their education than is contributed by the state. In truth one of the reasons why state schools should be less expensive is because local taxes subsidize the cost. This is no longer the case in many areas around the country.

So if we make education free, what does that mean? I know more than a few people who rage at college kids studying "useless degrees." This is an argument that is not political, I've heard it from both sides. Back when I was a trauma nurse I had a coworker who was a "lever puller" as we called it back then. He said he would pay for his kids to go to college but only if they studied something that guaranteed him a job. I reminded him that I had a music degree first and it was a few years before I decided to go back to school. It didn't shake him. It doesn't matter that I would never trade those years for anything. They may not have contributed to society or to the loans that I had to take out but they were a big part of my life. Some of my favorite times in my life.

I fear for a model where private schools are the only locations where one can study these subjects and as such studying art, music, theatre and literature would be afforded to only those with privilege and wealth sufficient to afford those subjects. Quite frankly that's already happening in some places already.