That’s an insane idea, if course. However, I am not sure that the way we expect kids to pay for college is a lot saner.
Here’s why I say that. Everybody agrees that without some form of higher education, no young person can be successful in today’s world. And even if you have a heart of stone, you have to realize that the spectre of millions of Americans without productive work or hope for a better future is scary.
So it is in all of our best interests to see that as many people as possible get the training they need to live valuable lives. Yet we aren’t doing that. Yes, there is a haphazardly rigged system of financial aid and grants and loans. But too few students know precisely how to navigate the system.
Last year, when Wayne State University raised tuition by 18 percent, this dashed the hopes of a young woman at my car wash. She is 24, has a baby and no partner, and took some time to get her life together. But she now wants to make a better life for herself and her daughter. I think society has a strong interest in her doing so.
I am not arguing that she should get a free ride. I don’t think anybody should. I think people appreciate things more when they have to work to get them.
There are students at virtually every university who are goofing off and hanging out, because their parents pay for it. Back in the go-go 1990s, I had a student who would register for classes, and never show up. His employer had a policy of total tuition reimbursal. Didn’t matter if you passed. They paid his tuition, no questions asked.
That doesn’t happen much any more. But there are still lots of young people in Michigan who need education and don’t have a clue as to how to get it. Fortunately, I have a solution. We need to start a Michigan Earn-to-Learn Corps, where you would trade service to the state for the cost of your education.
Right now, you get college money if you join the military. Why couldn’t Michigan do the same thing, and let us all profit from it?
Students might work off their obligation before, during or after their education. We could have skilled workers fixing our decaying infrastructure, fixing the teeth of the uninsured, and doing other stuff the politicians say we now can’t afford. They would make our shared lives better, and then go out and make their own lives richer.
So, Lansing, there’s how to solve the problem, so now go to work on the details. And you don’t even have to give me any credit.
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