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Comment by notch656a | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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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