Oregon 'Pay It Forward' Plan Offers Free College Tuition

[BlameThe1st]

'Pay It Forward' Plan In Oregon Would Make Tuition Free At State's Public Universities

This seems like an ingenious plan. The idea is that students attend public universities tuition-free and pay for it with 3 percent of their income every year for 25 years.

I know most of us libertarians don't buy into "free" education, but in this instant, it seems fair. Rather than tax everyone for a public service, it only taxes the people who use it. If you don't use it, you don't pay for it, but you pay for it if you do. So, in essence, it seems like a voluntary service and tax.

If more public services were set up this way, with a voluntary pay-as-you-go method, I think I would be more supportive of them. So in other words, we could have a government healthcare service, but people are only taxed for it if they use it. If they use a private service, they don't have to pay for it.

But that's my impression. What says the rest of you?

[MrBogosity]

So is someone who gets a medical license as a brain surgeon taxed the same as someone who goes to school for 2 years to be an auto mechanic?

[BlameThe1st]

So is someone who gets a medical license as a brain surgeon taxed the same as someone who goes to school for 2 years to be an auto mechanic?

Well, they're taxed 3% of their income, so if one is paid more than the other, then it follows that one is going to be taxed more than the other.

[evensgrey]

So is someone who gets a medical license as a brain surgeon taxed the same as someone who goes to school for 2 years to be an auto mechanic?

You don't go to a university to learn how to be an auto mechanic, you go to a trade school (which is usually a private outfit, unless things are so strange where you are, Shane, that you've got government taking over the trade schools when Canada doesn't have that).

It does have the interesting effect of giving the government universities an incentive to provide education that really improves future earnings, since the more a graduate earns, the more the system will take in.

[MrBogosity]

We have community colleges here, and yes, most of them are government-supported.

[evensgrey]

We have community colleges here, and yes, most of them are government-supported.

Community colleges are not usually trade schools.  Different sort of thing, for the most part.  If you're getting some kind of certification, usually from some industry-backed group (sometimes just from a single vendor), it's usually a trade school that does the training (if you go for formal training, which not all certifications require).  Community colleges are usually more of an academic bent, and credits from one are usually transferable to a degree-granting institution, while credits from a trade school are usually not transferable anywhere else except as part of a completed certification.

The term 'trade school' itself comes from the fact that what's usually taught at them are formal trades and similar skill packages, like carpentry, auto mechanics, or computer networking.

[MrBogosity]

Yes, and our community colleges teach all of those things. They probably do more of that than they do academic training.

[Ibrahim90]

Community colleges are not usually trade schools.  Different sort of thing, for the most part.  If you're getting some kind of certification, usually from some industry-backed group (sometimes just from a single vendor), it's usually a trade school that does the training (if you go for formal training, which not all certifications require).  Community colleges are usually more of an academic bent, and credits from one are usually transferable to a degree-granting institution, while credits from a trade school are usually not transferable anywhere else except as part of a completed certification.

The term 'trade school' itself comes from the fact that what's usually taught at them are formal trades and similar skill packages, like carpentry, auto mechanics, or computer networking.

yeah, but that's Canada and the rest of the World. This is 'Amuurca! *fake Jingoism*