Free is a funny word. We use it incorrectly most of the time. When people say state university tuition should be free, they are misusing the word free. It won’t be free. It would be 100% subsidized. There is a difference. Someone has to pay for it to happen.

What is the reasoning for wanting free tuition at state universities? People will tell you that it is because of the outrageous student loan debt. It can’t be about student debt. This country was founded on debt. There is debt that is considered good debt and debt that is not good. Student load debt should be part of the good debt. Why? Well, simply because paying for an education to improve your lot in life should be a good thing. If you have to pay for the things that keep you alive (food, water, shelter), it is reasonable to think you should pay for a higher education.

There is a greater problem than student loan debt. The greater problem is that the unemployment/underemployment rate of recent college graduates is nearly double the national average for unemployment. No longer does getting a degree equal getting a good paying job. So really, the biggest problem is not student loan debt or unemployment of recent college graduates. The problem is the skills gap. Students are graduating from college without developing the skills they need to be employable. They get theory, just not the practice.   I see ads and articles by universities saying they give this to students.   I believe some do. The issue is that most don’t.

Rather than making state colleges free, maybe we should look at some better alternatives.

• Hold colleges accountable for real outcomes.   Stop measuring success by simply graduation rates. What about employment rates? Attach this success to state and federal funding.
• Change tuition rates to match starting salaries after graduation.   A student studying to be a teacher should not pay as much as someone studying to be an engineer.
• Create student loan caps depending on the earning potential of the major you choose. A social work major should not be able to take out as much student loan as someone majoring in accounting. If a student is undecided about their major, the cap stays low.
• Require universities as part of their accreditation to eliminate majors that are not yielding graduates that find jobs. This isn’t about eliminating certain types of degrees. Some universities will do better than others with specific degrees.
• Move universities out of the “not-for-profit” business so that they can be more entrepreneurial and rely less on federal student aid to help their students pay for the cost to run a university.

I don’t have all the answers on this, but making tuition “free” is not going to solve the employability problem that graduates face.   I think it is time that we look for real solutions to the real problem.