Expanding Access to Higher Education

WM Oversight: Expanding Access to Higher Education and the Promise it Holds, June 29, 2021

When expanding access to higher education, the first step for many is completing the road to basic literacy and English fluency. Only then should the decision be made to forgo more advanced training and education. Many people have been underserved by the public system or have had to put working for survival ahead of school. We must fix that first, with the workforce development system being a good portal for the underserved to get started. From recent current comments on the Budget:

President’s Budget: Support workforce development; provide four additional years of free education. Make historic investments in education. 

Local welfare programs will channel clients to appropriate educational programs (with no legal residency requirement), training through workforce investment boards or other social services. One Stop programs should really be handled in one stop. Programs, both public, private and sectarian, should be funded by a state-level employer-paid subtraction VAT. They will include the following

• English as a Second Language
• Expanded Job Corps
• General Education Degree preparation
• Technical and vocational training
• Psychiatric and occupational rehabilitation programs 
• Community College and the first two years of four year programs to an Associate's Degree or through sophomore year 

All of the above should include a stipend at the minimum wage pending satisfactory performance and be tuition free). Education providers will be the conduit to tax benefits and any other state or federal subsidies.

Medicaid for poor families should be distributed, where possible, through the health insurance plan of their educational providers or the plan for state and local government employees. SNAP payments should be abolished, as well as TANF, except for people who cannot be enrolled in another program. For these, SNAP must include a cash benefit, thus ending the incentive to sell food stamps in order to buy toilet paper or gasoline.

The rest of higher education should include seeking career employment rather than parental support. This helps future professionals to have their education support their careers, although simply finishing an education is a good in itself. Regardless, students at all phases must receive support for their families if they have children and have their opportunity costs met - meaning that attending school after their age cohort has passed the sophomore year in high school should be paid at least at the minimum wage (if not higher for in-demand careers).

If employer-paid education with a service commitment attached is included, there must be a program to turn tuition (but not living) costs to a federal loan should employment not work out. Such loans should have no interest costs, but assistance in finding a job must be provided so that the loan will be repaid.

Graduate school should also be an employer-paid arrangement, with the same federal loan option during transition to a future employer.

As mentioned above, an employer-paid federal subtraction value added tax is the ideal vehicle for family support and health care. A state level S-VAT would be used for additional family support in high-cost states, as well as for the funding of educational costs up to sophomore year of college. Younger students would be funded through the public system or their parent’s employers. Independent students would receive social benefits through their education providers (including pay) with state and federal government funding, with the federal S-VAT paid by the training provider used as the conduit for family support and healthcare. 

The following text is from our Tax Reform Attachment:

Subtraction Value-Added Tax (S-VAT). These are employer paid Net Business Receipts Taxes. S-VAT is a vehicle for tax benefits, including

Health insurance or direct care, including veterans' health care for non-battlefield injuries and long term care. 

Employer paid educational costs in lieu of taxes are provided as either employee-directed contributions to the public or private unionized school of their choice or direct tuition payments for employee children or for workers (including ESL and remedial skills). Wages will be paid to students to meet opportunity costs.  

Most importantly, a refundable child tax credit at median income levels (with inflation adjustments)  distributed with pay. 

Subsistence level benefits force the poor into servile labor. Wages and benefits must be high enough to provide justice and human dignity. This allows the ending of state administered subsidy programs and discourages abortions, and as such enactment must be scored as a must pass in voting rankings by pro-life organizations (and feminist organizations as well). To assure child subsidies are distributed, S-VAT will not be border adjustable.

We discussed the Child Tax Credit in our comments on the President’s Budget, which I repeat here.

President's Budget: Extend key tax benefits for lower- and middle-income workers and families. The child tax credit level passed in the American Recovery Act should be made permanent and doubled, with distribution through private sector payrolls, unemployment insurance benefits, emergency benefits for families and paid participation in educational programs.

There are two avenues to distribute money to families. The first is to add CTC benefits to unemployment, retirement, educational (TANF and college) and disability benefits. The CTC should be high enough to replace survivor’s benefits for children. 

The second is to distribute them with pay through employers. This can be done with long term tax reform, but in the interim can be accomplished by having employers start increasing wages immediately to distribute the credit to workers and their families, allowing them to subtract these payments from their quarterly corporate or income tax bills.

For working families with children, a huge obstacle to continuing education is child care. Again, form our budget comments:

President’s Budget: Make critical investments in child care. Childcare is best provided by the employer or the employee-owned or cooperative firm.On-site care, with separate spaces for well and sick children, as well as an on-site medical site for sick employees, will uncomplicate the morning and evening routine. Making yet another stop in an already busy schedule adds to the stress of the day. Knowing that, if problems arise, parents can be right there, will help workers focus on work.

Larger firms and government agencies can more easily provide such facilities. Indeed, in the Reeves Center of the District Government, such a site already exists. When the crisis is over, a staff visit would prove illuminating. Smaller firms could make arrangements with the landlord of the building where offices or stores are located, including retail districts and shopping malls. For security reasons, these would only serve local workers, but not retail customers.

Finally, it goes without saying that access to higher education will include services to Veterans, although conversely, access to higher education should be wide enough so that one does not have to volunteer for service to receive it.