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GUEST OPINION
Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently unveiled a plan, the so-called Excelsior Scholarship, which will offer free tuition at all state-run colleges for students from families earning less than $125,000 a year. Since the provision of free college tuition was vociferously championed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont during the 2016 presidential campaign, this idea is still fresh in our minds. However, this plan raises two fundamental questions. First, should college be free? Second, if the answer to the previous question is yes, then does the governor's plan lead to an improvement over the status quo? Let us investigate.
It is clear that Cuomo would answer the first question posed above affirmatively. Even so, it is not obvious that college should be free. A college education is a valuable commodity for most Americans. This value derives not only from the fact that real and scarce resources are required to provide it but also from the fact that relative to a high school education, a college education typically makes one wealthier. So, if such a...