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Comment by IceMetalPunk | Hacker News Reader

Here, if you prefer specific, actual numbers rather than an example of the concept, I will do your homework for you.

There are 144.3 million taxpayers in the US, and 329.5 million people. Using the still-accurate numbers of 8% of the population being in college at any given time, and the average college tuition in the US of $8,000/year, we can do the same calculation:

(0.08 * 329,500,000 people * $8,000/yr) / (144,300,000 taxpayers) = $1461.40.

In other words, by subsidizing higher education with taxes, every person in the country could attend college for about 1/5 the cost, as opposed to "only people who can afford at least $8,000/year can attend college, and it costs them 5x as much as it otherwise would."

Those are real numbers. Does that make it feel less "hand-waving" to you?

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So I go to college. The real cost is $8000/year. That's $32,000 in cost for 4 year degree.

Then I pay $1461.40 in taxes a year for 40 years (we'll control inflation at 0%, otherwise both my income and tuition rises) while I'm working, assuming I retire at ~62 which is fairly typical. I just paid $58,440 for $32000 of college. This is a good deal why? I was better off when no one was helping me.

Because while you're getting the benefit, you're not the only one benefiting. The benefit applies to you as well as to everyone else. So your calculation should be "I paid $58,440 in taxes, but I saved $32,000 on tuition for myself, so I actually only paid $26,440 to help everyone else in the country get the same $32,000 education that I did."

Why do you live in a society, where you depend on other people, if you're not willing to help those who depend on you?

I see, this isn't about making things better for the working stiff. Everybody in your plan goes to college, so this includes the janitor and trash man too who is paying $58k for a $32k education.

No this isn't about making college more affordable for the regular working stiff (it actually does the opposite). It's about enforcing your favored version of charity at the gun point of taxes.

>so I actually only paid $26,440 to help

I don't understand, what's stopping you from doing that now? Just go to some university's school tour as part of a group of potential students and offer somebody $26k for tuition. You'll find a taker. Your dream can become a reality and it doesn't even involve you convincing 51% of the population/reps to vote for it.

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