Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders proposes free tuition at public colleges and universities in his "College for All Act." Who wouldn't welcome that? For most Americans the cost of four years of college is prohibitive. It excludes capable students who simply can't afford tuition. It forces others to carry suffocating debt that will plague their lives and limit their spending for decades. Outstanding student debt ballooned to an astonishing 1.27 trillion dollars in 2015.
While the public applauds Bernie Sanders's proposal, many people are shaking their heads and contending that "free tuition is unrealistic and will never happen." This skepticism has a solid foundation. If we can't get a national minimum living wage of fifteen dollars an hour that would lift millions of Americans out of deep poverty, how will Sanders persuade Congress to outlay forty-seven billion dollars and states twenty-three billion dollars each year to pay for free public college education?
But Bernie Sanders isn't shaking his head. Free tuition at state colleges is a centerpiece of his campaign. And despite public skepticism, he promises that President Bernie Sanders will fight for his plan. He makes the strong argument that many states provided free college education during the Great Depression-- and continued free through the 1960's. Bernie Sanders himself was the beneficiary of free college in New York City. So was I, along with many of my friends and professional colleagues. So why not now for the wealthiest nation on the planet? Sanders asks.
He adds a note of urgency. College education today, Sanders insists, is equivalent to a high school diploma in previous generations. And he reminds us that other nations less wealthy than the U.S. provide free or low-cost college education, including, among others, France, Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Slovenia, and Brazil. In contrast, the cost of a college education in America has swelled by five hundred percent since 1985, according to Bloomberg Business--and continues to climb. How is it that other nations can provide free college education and we say we can't?
An equally important question is: Why are these other nations providing free college education? For them it's not a perk or a giveaway. It's the best way to assure that they have a workforce that can compete effectively in the twenty- first-century global marketplace.
While the United States is understandably focused on national
defense to fight terrorism and protect Americans from threats, we must not
forget that national defense is more than military defense. The decline of the
middle class, the increased numbers of poor and poorly educated Americans, and
the rise in homelessness, combine to make building a strong workforce a
challenge. Consider too the significant demographic changes that we face.
Americans are marrying later--many not at all--leading to the prospect of a
continuing decline in the national birth rate that
will accelerate as we curtail immigration. Add
to that the growing ranks of the elderly with ever increasing life expectancy.
And despite pressure for people to work longer and harder, it's not likely our
workforce will swell significantly by adding seniors to its ranks. These
demographic facts tell us that the United States will need every able-bodied
and educated American to maintain its prosperity and its leadership in the
world.
The legislative paralysis that has marked this past decade of American politics
does not bode well for the prospects of free college education happening soon,
even if Bernie Sanders wins the presidency. Without Sanders, the prospects are
even dimmer.
That's why we need immediate entree for students who can't afford college while Bernie Sanders fights for free tuition for all at public institutions. And there is a way to do it. It's based on a current proven model that doesn't require government approval or support. That proven model is online interactive education provided by volunteer retired college professors and retirees from other domains.
I have direct experience with this model. Like many other programs around the country, New York City's Center for Learning and Living (CL&L)--of which I am a founder and director--provides low-cost educational programs staffed by retired volunteers. CL&L focuses on education for adults age 55-plus, but there's no reason such a lifelong learning program can't easily be adapted to a degree-granting college education.
When CL&L was proposed at Marymount Manhattan College in 1992, we wondered if we could recruit high quality volunteer retired teachers. But we needn't have worried. A few newspaper ads, personal contacts, and word of mouth drew impressive world-class faculty from some of the leading universities as well as other outstanding professionals from the arts, the corporate world, and government. Occasionally, even younger teachers volunteered. Twenty-three years later we still draw teachers who any university would be proud to have on their faculties.
CL&L charges a modest fee only because it pays for its physical facility and some technical support now that we are administering the program independently. An online program would eliminate that cost. For the $255 fee students can take one or all nine courses in each of the three cycles or semesters. A far cry from the $4,000 or more that many colleges charge for a single 3-credit course.
Colleges throughout the world are giving online courses for credit as part of their regular curricula. Many of these are not free because they pay their professors. Using volunteer teachers would eliminate that cost. And education experts say that pervasive online education is the future of education.
For qualified students who can't afford college the future is now.
Online interactive education has the advantage that teachers and students can reside anywhere. It eliminates costly physical buildings. The online feature will have great appeal for retired teachers, since they would not have to travel to a school building. And I can foresee senior volunteer teachers flocking to the worthy cause of opening a window of opportunity for the disenfranchised, for whom the outrageous cost of a college is an insurmountable barrier.
Would volunteer teachers take jobs away from young teachers seeking employment? Not at all, since the students in the free program would not otherwise be attending college.
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