Money. The world runs on it. It seems that most people can agree with that, but we don’t agree on the way we should spend the greenbacks. It could be argued that money should be put into the private sector for education, but what about those who cannot afford a private education? Let’s talk about the benefits of continued or increased use of educational subsidies. For those of you who are not familiar with what a subsidy is, let me explain:
A subsidy is a particular amount of tax money that is collected by the government and is then spent on a particular cause or project (typically local). In this case, money is being sent to fund scholarships as well as federal loans for schooling.
Economically speaking, educational subsidies are dubious in nature because of the idea that everyone is paying for the benefit of a relatively small group. Ph.D. student Conor Lennon suggests that there are external benefits as a result of the additional funding for education citizens with a college education are less likely to commit a crime as well as find future employment and start giving back to the community. The idea here is that the initial investment in a student will result in the general benefit of the community, and therefore exceed the original monetary cost through being a higher quality of citizen.
But what about the argument, “If more people go to college because of educational subsidies, who will fill the blue collar jobs that society relies so heavily upon?” My response is that it's ridiculous to assume that blue collar jobs will simply vanish. It is not true. There will always be a demand for manual or unskilled labor. College is designed to educate, not exempt individuals from select job roles. There will be those who choose not to attend college and instead take a simpler job to start making money right out of high school. Besides, college students need a way to make money, right? There will always be a supply for the demand of manual or unskilled labor.
Education is important for the betterment of society. Educational subsidies will help citizens achieve a higher education, while the initial cost seems pricey, the positive long-term benefits seem to be worth it.
