Making Colleges More Accessible

In one of today’s editorials, the Toledo Blade makes a case for a change in the wealth distribution in our population and how it is affecting the distribution of college education in the same population. The opinion begins with an assertion that "in modern times [there has been a] tremendous transfer of wealth from the lower four-fifths of the population to the top 5 percent". This is an absurdly over-simplified statement that I think many people read and swallow without question.

The fact is, between any two points in time, the distribution of wealth, income, ability to consume and the standard of living are just a few of many factors that make any comparison a very complex and, at best, subjective call.

But one fact remains and, I hope, always will: a very small portion of our society owns a very large portion of the countable wealth. Some call it the L curve. Why do I hope the L curve remains? Because I want to oppress the poor? Because I like the idea of few greedy people sucking the life out of the rest? No. Because an L curve is natural in almost anything: physical strength, sexual attractiveness, social grace, intelligence and, yes, wealth. If you live in a society with an L curve, you know you live in a free society. I could write for days on this subject but, first, I want to get back to colleges and, second, AOLFoolman says it better than I could anyway.

The next sentence claims that "There is no clearer illustration of [the tremendous transfer of wealth] than the proportion of increasingly wealthy students at U.S. colleges and universities". OK. Forget the fact that there has been a truly tremendous change in the cost of college tuition (this is data that is easily collected, measurable and doesn’t require an iota of subjectivity to interpret). Of course, that doesn’t have anything to do with it. No, it has nothing to do with the rising cost of college tuition. It is all about the draining of wealth from the lower four-fifths of the population. Look, college tuition has increased, therefore the income or wealth level of families that can afford it have increased. Duh. Common sense.

While the Blade may find this an opportunity to incite class warfare, it is actually just simple math. But not to the president of Harvard, Lawrence Summers. To him, according to a quote in the opinion, "it's very much an issue of fundamental fairness." The inequity is apparently heart wrenching to Mr. Summers because he feels that "An important purpose of institutions like Harvard is to give everybody a shot at the American dream". This is perhaps the strangest line in the entire article. It is like saying that an important purpose of Augusta National is to give everybody a shot at playing golf.

To really drive home the injustice, the Blade then writes that, “Tuition is climbing toward $40,000 a year at top colleges, making it nearly impossible for a student from a family with a median income of about $53,000 to afford college”. Through what twisted sense of "fairness" should a MEDIAN income be able to buy a TOP college education? Isn’t a MEDIAN college good enough for a MEDIAN income? One year at a 4-year public college in Ohio should cost no more than $15,000 today including tuition, room, board and books.

The haves vs. the have-nots, the social engineering, the desire to make everyone equal in all respects – all of this a consistent and predictable drone from the left. The big problem here is the lack of personal responsibility and self-sufficiency that it breeds. The underlying implication of this article is that not having a college education means not having a shot at the American dream. That if you don’t have a college education, you might as well give it up because you are doomed to a life poverty level wages and no opportunity. Although nothing could be further from the truth, a lot of people believe this. These people think that opportunity springs from collecting degrees as opposed to going out and actually creating value in the marketplace. Worse yet, they blame others for not being able to collect those degrees. The ironic thing is, it is exactly the people who think like this that are the least likely to succeed – college education or not.