Wasted money. Wasted time. Wasted lives!-----The Problems Free College Won't Solve

The Problems Free College Won't Solve | Economics21
Higher education is shaping up to be the next front in public policy battles.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated his proposal to make two years of community college free. 
Not to be outdone, Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders has called for abolishing tuition entirely at public colleges and universities.
Tempting as the prospect of free tuition sounds, these proposals will do little to resolve the crisis in higher education.
The federal government heavily subsidizes higher education through a complex system of grants and loans.
While the programs are great for colleges — they have enabled an astronomical increase in tuition — they contain few measures holding the institutions accountable to their students.
As a result, only 59 percent of students graduate from four-year colleges and universities within six years.
Those lucky enough to graduate face another hurdle: 44 percent of recent college graduates occupy jobs which do not require a college degree.
Taken together, these numbers suggest that only one-third of college enrollees emerge from the system with both a degree and a relevant job.
Making college free would do nothing to address these problems.
In fact, it would worsen them.
At community colleges, which President Obama would make free, only 40 percent of students graduate, even when taking into account those that transfer to other institutions.
Bernie Sanders' proposals look even worse.
At four-year colleges with open enrollment, which are most likely to accept the additional students drawn into the system by free tuition, the graduation rate is just 34 percent. 
More students attending these colleges would push overall graduation rates down.
Without measures to ensure that colleges help their students graduate and find good jobs, free tuition would only shuffle more young people into a system that fails two-thirds of them..."