Summary of my view on Financial Aid

Gary Becker, quoted on the Economix blog, summarizes a key point about financial aid. When I discovered this for myself my views changed a lot:

The average college graduate earns much more than the average individual who does not go to college. As a result, college graduates earn a lot more on average than does the typical taxpayer. It is a questionable system of regressive taxation when taxes are spent on subsidizing individuals who will earn more than those paying the taxes.

Financial aid goes to currently poor people who will soon be rich. That's how a lot of our welfare has the potential to work--you can be homeless one day then start a business and be rich--but rarely does. With financial aid, taking from the poor to give to the (soon to be) rich is institutionalized. I'm not a big fan of it.