Just about every parent wants their kid to go to college. But not every parent can pay for it.
That's why the president just promised to increase Pell grants (search), which help subsidize poor students in college. The problem is, the more you subsidize something, the more popular it becomes. And that makes it more expensive.
Former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett (search) warned back in 1987 that this would happen with college tuition, saying that increased federal aid has "enabled colleges and universities to blithely raise their tuition, confident that federal loan subsidies would help cushion the increase."
Bennett was right. In the past ten years, as federal loans for college tuition (search) have increased four times, public and private colleges have increased their tuition much faster than inflation.
According to one expert: "The U.S. government has helped to create a cycle where federal aid results in increased tuition, leading to political pressure to further increase aid. This in turn leads to higher tuitions."
If this vicious cycle isn't stopped, the only folks who will be able to afford college for their kids will be the very poor and the very rich. Most of the middle class will be squeezed out again.
And that’s the Asman Observer.
Watch David Asman on "FOX News Live" weekdays at noon ET.
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