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Hillary Clinton College Tuition Plan Could Drive Costs Even Higher

By Zachary Volkert
Published on: 06:49 PST, Jul 17, 2016

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton often sparred over their respective approaches to reining in college tuition costs, but it appears that, in the end, the presumptive Democratic nominee was at least partially influenced by her rival’s plan.

Hillary’s campaign announced Wednesday that it would be pushing for free college tuition for students who choose to attend in-state universities — as long as their family’s household income is under $125,000. After months of touting more accessible community college instead of fully public higher education, Clinton has embraced a plan that may cover as much as 80 percent of the college-going population.

Some experts, however, do not believe that Hillary will actually be able to stall the rise of college tuition. With this plan, some believe that a phenomenon described in the “Bennett hypothesis” will occur. Following this rule, universities will absorb the money given to them by the federal government in Clinton’s plan while simultaneously increasing tuition costs, reported the New York Times.

It’s a theory that’s not without evidence. A 2015 study by the New York Fed indicated that tuition costs went up alongside larger amounts of money coming from the federal government. In a column published by the Wall Street Journal, editorial board member Joe Rago argued that such a spike had already taken place under the more conservative approach of the Obama administration — one not nearly as expensive as that of Hillary Clinton.

“Consider what happened after the Obama Administration created supplemental Pell Grants that averaged $1,700. Between 2008 and 2010, spending on Pell Grants increased by nearly 120%. Tuition and fees jumped more in 2009 at nonprofits (5.9%) and public four-year colleges (9.5%) than in any year during the past decade. [Hillary]’s tuition plan is another income transfer from the private economy to the academic class that overwhelmingly votes for Democrats.”

Oddly enough, criticisms of Clinton’s new plan echo those that she made of Sanders’ only months ago. An editorial in Time provided several instances where Hillary had blasted Bernie’s strategy as unrealistic, particularly in the way that it naively assumed the approval of state governors who had fought tooth and nail against Obamacare. At the time, Clinton doubted such a maneuver would ever reach implementation.

“You read that fine print and it basically says, ‘Yeah, it’ll be free if the governors of America put in about $28 billion.’… It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It doesn’t add up, my friends.”

In addition to those who find Hillary’s plan financially burdensome and overreaching, there are also other education experts who say it doesn’t do enough. Some, for instance, think that the plan to pay for tuition only for households with incomes under $125,000 is overly simplistic — the cost of living varies too much from state to state to hone in on the students most in need, critics say. In the Washington Post, Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor of higher education and sociology at Temple University, also criticized Clinton’s adherence to not paying for the tuition of the wealthy.

“Free college promotes equity, and this is yet another step toward that end. I’m glad that she has moved toward a real recognition that the current system is not okay and is not sufficiently universal. It’s just that she still seems very committed to the idea that we must not give Trump’s kids the potential of a benefit.”

Do you think Hillary Clinton’s college tuition plan will increase prices in the long term?

[Photo by Andrew Harnick/AP Images]

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