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The bribery cases within America’s elite colleges and universities may be the least fraudulent thing, Inez Stepman writes in the Federalist, in which she highlights that endowment-laden universities are the recipients of $1.5 trillion in tax-funded loans.
Universities are big business, and their excess is all the more offensive for having being built in no small part on the backs of the majority of Americans who never set foot in their hallowed halls.
The federal government spends $75 billion a year on higher education. Taxpayers also hold the ultimate dance card for the $1.5 trillion in outstanding student loan debt, much of which will likely not be fully repaid. For public universities, state-level funds also play a large role.
It makes no sense for a Republican majority to hand out political subsidies to the breeding grounds of their political opponents. It makes even less sense for Americans making the average household income of $60,000 to subsidize the women’s studies degrees of the elite.
Vassals of a New Feudalism
This is the new feudalism. Universities appeal to the public purse on the basis that they form better workers and citizens, and take the best from all walks of life on a meritocratic basis for the study of higher things.
The reality they offer is a laughable shadow of that promise, and not just because Hollywood actresses bribe smart kids to take the ACT in place of their children.
The bribery case making headlines just might be the least fraudulent thing about higher education.”
Tuition for All – Funded by U.S. Taxpayer
The left, allegedly still the voice of the working man, wants to increase that burden. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other mainstream voices in the Democratic Party have voiced support for “tuition free” college, which of course in reality means “tuition bill entirely funded by the U.S. taxpayer.”
If she wants to really eat the rich, she should instead look into why the tax code exempts multi-billion-dollar endowments while the institutions attached to them still accept federal charity in the form of taxpayer-backed student loans. Why should a single student at Yale University, which has a cool $26 billion laying around in its endowment, require a taxpayer-backed loan to attend?
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