Does Free College Threaten Our All-Volunteer Military?
Benjamin Luxenberg
September 8, 2016
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Throughout the current presidential campaign season, there have been repeated calls for free college. Channeling a long-held position by Sen. Bernie Sanders and his supporters, the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, said that families making under $125,000 per year should be able to send their kids to college tuition-free. As someone who graduated college tens of thousands of dollars in debt, I am inclined to sympathize with this proposal. Student debt is a critical issue.
Opponents to Clinton’s proposal rightly cite the immense expense that these policies would impose on the federal budget. To date, however, a serious potential implication of free college for lower and middle income students has been ignored: the impact on military recruiting.
Higher education is rightly hailed as the surest path to the middle class. Because of its cost — both tuition and lost working hours — a college education has not been possible for everyone across the income spectrum. In a defining moment of the last century, the federal government enacted the G.I. Bill in 1944, providing returning American soldiers with the financial wherewithal to pursue a degree. It was, perhaps, the keystone policy for expanding the U.S. economy and creating the modern American middle class.
http://warontherocks.com/2016/09/does-free-college-threaten-our-all-volunteer-military/
