​​​Nuria Martinez-Keel

Bernie Sanders’ promise of free tuition at public colleges and universities is popular, but economic experts are questioning whether the plan would help higher education.

Sanders estimated the cost of covering tuition at all public colleges and universities would be $75 billion, according to his campaign website. His campaign did not explain how he calculated that number. 

Sanders plans to put a small tax on financial speculators, who trade stocks and bonds, to fully pay the $75 billion every year, according to his website.

The Democratic presidential candidate would have to win his party’s nomination and the general election before his policy has a chance at becoming law.

Sanders has won the past seven Democratic primaries and caucuses but remains 689 delegates behind Hillary Clinton, with superdelegates included.

If Sanders were to win, though, two professors and the head of Oklahoma State University’s Department of Economics and Legal Studies said the plan has several drawbacks.

Department head Lee Adkins said in an email that taxing speculators is not as easy as it sounds. All finance is speculative so it would be difficult to define who is and is not a speculator, Adkins said.

If the federal government taxed the stock and bond trade, it could be detrimental, he said.

“Taxing financial transactions would be akin to taxing our retirement accounts, our public pension funds, union pension funds, and pretty much any other form of saving in the country (other than stuffing a mattress full of cash),” Adkins said in his email. “This would put further stress on our economy due to our aging population and loose monetary policy.”

An OSU economics professor said that any

time something is available for free, it

becomes over-used. Bill McClean called it

the “tragedy of the commons.”

Providing free tuition means more people

can and will go to college, including

students who shouldn’t, McClean said.

However, Sanders’ plan would cover only

tuition, not room and board, McClean said.

Students would still have to take out loans

in parts of the country where room and

board can cost up to $20,000 a year.

Room and board isn’t particularly high at OSU compared to schools in other states, McClean said.

University housing and meals cost $8,860 a year for Oklahoma resident and non-resident students, according to the Office of the Registrar. 

However, in states where the cost of living is higher, students can expect to pay more. For example, the University of California System estimates the average cost of on-campus room and board to be $14,200 at its universities for 2015-2016, according to UC Admissions.

McClean said students who drop out of school could still have taken on a lot of debt under Sanders’ plan.

“If students come who shouldn’t be here and they borrow money to do it, they take on debt, and then they realize over a period of time that … they don’t need to be here,” McClean said. “So they leave here with no degree and a lot of debt.”

With more people attending, universities would need more resources to support growing student bodies, McClean said. The $75 billion price tag would start to increase and taxing Wall Street might not be enough.

“That means that you have to come up with the money either from the federal government, from the states, but somebody’s got to pay the bill,” McClean said. “If society is going to pay to send someone to college, then society deserves something in return.”

Certain degrees have marginal value or utility, McClean said. Majors such as history don’t have many job opportunities for graduates. The market doesn’t require as many people to study history as it does other degrees, he said.

With free tuition, though, the government and its taxpayers would have to foot the bill regardless of whether students can use their degrees once they graduate. The money spent for a diploma might not bring back any return, McClean said.

Another OSU economics professor said more people attending college could bring about other problems. Mary Gade said students would have a harder time differentiating themselves to employers when more people receive college degrees.

“I think that if everybody gets a college degree, then a college degree turns into a high school diploma,” Gade said. “I still want to be better than person Y, so now what do I have to do? I have to go to graduate school or professional school.”

Sanders’ campaign website does not mention whether his plan would cover graduate school tuition, which is more expensive than for an undergraduate education.

Student loan debt is capped for undergraduate degrees but not for graduate school, Gade said. As the number of graduate students increase so would the number of uncapped loans.

In other words, Sanders’ plan to make college affordable could cause the number of uncapped student loans to skyrocket, Gade said.

Despite criticism of Sanders’ plan, the U.S. senator from Vermont remains popular among college students with his free tuition policy.

A co-founder of the OSU Students for Sanders group said frustration about the high cost of college has contributed to the candidate’s growing popularity. Kealey Casey said some students have to give up a college education to avoid going into debt.

“There are so many intelligent and ambitious people that don’t have access to (college),” Casey said. “For Bernie to just be that voice to say that we need to make this better, I think that that’s really resonated with people.”

The OSU Students for Sanders group started in August and has grown to more than 400 members, the political science and foreign policy senior said.

Not all students are so optimistic about Sanders’ policy. The Student Government Association president said he is against the federal government covering free tuition.

Kyle Hilbert said education is a state issue, not a federal one. Sanders’ free tuition policy would come with a one-size-fits-all system and unnecessary government oversight, the agribusiness senior said.

“I don’t think the needs of the different universities are best suited by being controlled by a bureaucrat in Washington, D.C.,” Hilbert said. “The needs of students at a land-grant university in Stillwater are very different from the needs of a student that goes to North Carolina or a student that goes to school in Washington state.”