The Real Scandal Is the Destruction of College Affordability for the Working Class

Thom plus logo The ability of rich kids to get into the top schools because their parents either bribed some low-level functionary or test proctor, or because their parents bribed the entire school with a $2.5 million gift like Jared Kushner's dad did with Harvard, is made triply galling when we see those same rich people supporting politicians who revel in stripping money away from public schools and colleges.

When Reagan came to office and made Bill Bennett Education Secretary, about 80 percent of the cost of college was paid for by state and federal government; Bennett, like Betsy DeVos, began the process of reversing that process that Abraham Lincoln had started by creating over 50 public "Land Grant Colleges" like Michigan State University. Today, because of four decades of Republican efforts, 80 percent of the cost of college is now borne by students with tuition, radically raising the cost of education and leading to a crisis of $1.7 trillion in student loans that can't be eliminated by bankruptcy.

The rich now only screw our kids by putting their own at the top of the educational citadel, but then they pull up the ladder and keep out working class people with high tuition that results from the Reaganomics destruction of state and federal funding for college.

-Thom

Comments

borgen's picture
borgen 3 years 16 weeks ago
#1

Everyone wants to find some more direct sources about the decline of governemnt money being spent on education (public colleges & schools) since 1980; can you post some more sources??

AlexClare's picture
AlexClare 2 years 12 weeks ago
#3

WOW...

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