[ABANDONED] subsidising university education

[Ilmarene]

The General Assembly,
Recognizing that university education is one of the most important factors in determining someone's income and standard of living;
Observing that many are forced to not attend a university due to extremely high admission prices;
Understanding that many states have the capacity to subsidise universities but choose not to;
Hereby mandates that if a state is determined to be able to maintain a reasonable budget with the expense of the following clauses by and independent commission of economists they must:
a) Pay for at least 75% of a student who is unable to afford admission expenses relating directly to university attendance
b) Create a series of state run universities that are completely free for those with sufficient academic talent

[Araraukar]

The General Assembly,
Recognizing that university education is one of the most important factors in determining someone's income and standard of living;
Observing that many are forced to not attend a university due to extremely high admission prices;
Understanding that many states have the capacity to subsidise universities but choose not to;
Hereby mandates that if a state is determined to be able to maintain a reasonable budget with the expense of the following clauses by and independent commission of economists they must:
a) Pay for at least 75% of a student who is unable to afford admission expenses relating directly to university attendance
b) Create a series of state run universities that are completely free for those with sufficient academic talent

IC: "What on earth are you blabbering about, ambassador? In Araraukar all universities are state-run and free for all students. Getting into one depends on passing the entry exam, of course, but that's obviously free as well."

OOC: Even in RL not all nations have USAesque study costs. In Finland, where I live, university education is free to citizens at least. Haven't checked recently if they actually put in the payments for foreign students that they were talking about some time back. Students even get paid by the welfare system to help with living costs.

[Amendra]

The General Assembly,
Recognizing that university education is one of the most important factors in determining someone's income and standard of living;
Observing that many are forced to not attend a university due to extremely high admission prices;
Understanding that many states have the capacity to subsidise universities but choose not to;
Hereby mandates that if a state is determined to be able to maintain a reasonable budget with the expense of the following clauses by and independent commission of economists they must:
a) Pay for at least 75% of a student who is unable to afford admission expenses relating directly to university attendance
b) Create a series of state run universities that are completely free for those with sufficient academic talent

IC: "What on earth are you blabbering about, ambassador? In Araraukar all universities are state-run and free for all students. Getting into one depends on passing the entry exam, of course, but that's obviously free as well."

OOC: Even in RL not all nations have USAesque study costs. In Finland, where I live, university education is free to citizens at least. Haven't checked recently if they actually put in the payments for foreign students that they were talking about some time back. Students even get paid by the welfare system to help with living costs.

OOC: hello there northern neighbour!

In all honesty, I don't think this is a good idea at all, because how a country organizes their spending is ultimately the choice of the leader(s), not to be dictated by any external forces. To that end, how would you go about enforcing this piece legislation?

[Araraukar]

OOC: hello there northern neighbour!

OOC: Kuidas käsi käib?

[Amendra]

OOC: hello there northern neighbour!

OOC: Kuidas käsi käib?

Üldiselt masendavalt

[Terttia]

OOC: Even in RL not all nations have USAesque study costs.

Many students in the U.S. receive financial aid (e.g. scholarships, federal and state programs, etc.)

[South Reinkalistan]

IC: Turnov raises his glass of water and sips it. "Oh please, I must agree with the Araraukarian delegation; this legislation lacks any purpose when it comes to certain nations, such as the People's Federation for instance. Tell me, Ambassador; does South Reinkalistan look like the place to have private universities? You have talent for writing, certainly. But I would advise such talents be directed at other matters inside the General Assembly - unless, of course, this were to be heavily revised. But such a proposal, as it stands, would not have my support."

OOC: Perhaps make the legislation less powerful? At any rate, I'd try formatting this a bit better (for starters). Perhaps use [list]? Also, make it clear where this 'independent commission of economists" is coming from. Finally, 'sufficient academic talent' is very subjective in my opinion.

[Separatist Peoples]

OOC: Even in RL not all nations have USAesque study costs.

Many students in the U.S. receive financial aid (e.g. scholarships, federal and state programs, etc.)

OOC: I'm a pretty big USA apologist vs Ara, and even I have to say that the US system is not comparable to Finland's. Its just not a question that their system is more equitable to students.

IC: "We agree with Ambassador pro tem Äyrämäki."

[Ilmarene]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I agree that this proposal is too vague and interfering to be submitted to the world assembly. I'll try to avoid that in the future.

[Imperium Anglorum]

A finance limited government should spend more of its limited funds on primary education rather than tertiary education which primarily accrues education inequality while not producing tangible productivity improvements or tax returns. I wrote a whole thing on this for UM a while back when he proposed a similar policy. Edit: See viewtopic.php?p=33088472#p33088472.

This kind of policy is really bad for developing countries and ought not be implemented. Conditioning it on a board saying that doing it would be good has the problem of being not particularly measurable right now. Marginal returns to education too are not some kind of on-off switch. Moreover, cost-sharing in markets like higher education incentivise higher costs. This is easily illustrated in a Tirole-Laffont public procurement model. Price controls are likely necessary to defend the value of public investment.

The scope of the required policies require significant work and also great particularity to internal conditions. I don't see it as something that can be adequately resolved in a resolution.

[Teretstein]

Absolutely not. Historically, every time a government has subsidized education the prices skyrocketed. This is because university administrators see that huge payor with minimal budget constraints so they start jacking up prices. This has happened in every country this idiotic policy has been tried.

Better idea. Actually require universities to publish their prices. Allow students to shop around and if necessary allow the the private sector to extend loans to them. This works really well for healthcare too, btw. It's the reason why Singapore (RL reference) isn't suffering from healthcare costs right now.

[Araraukar]

Absolutely not. Historically, every time a government has subsidized education the prices skyrocketed. This is because university administrators see that huge payor with minimal budget constraints so they start jacking up prices. This has happened in every country this idiotic policy has been tried.

OOC: Reality once more disagrees with you. And many more nations than is listed there, offer free education for their own citizens (or of EU nations, to EU citizens).

[The COT Corporation]

The General Assembly,
Recognizing that university education is one of the most important factors in determining someone's income and standard of living;
Observing that many are forced to not attend a university due to extremely high admission prices;
Understanding that many states have the capacity to subsidise universities but choose not to;
Hereby mandates that if a state is determined to be able to maintain a reasonable budget with the expense of the following clauses by and independent commission of economists they must:
a) Pay for at least 75% of a student who is unable to afford admission expenses relating directly to university attendance
b) Create a series of state run universities that are completely free for those with sufficient academic talent

IC: "What on earth are you blabbering about, ambassador? In Araraukar all universities are state-run and free for all students. Getting into one depends on passing the entry exam, of course, but that's obviously free as well."

OOC: Even in RL not all nations have USAesque study costs. In Finland, where I live, university education is free to citizens at least. Haven't checked recently if they actually put in the payments for foreign students that they were talking about some time back. Students even get paid by the welfare system to help with living costs.

OOC: Agreed. In Scotland, where I grew up, university is free.

[Kenmoria]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I agree that this proposal is too vague and interfering to be submitted to the world assembly. I'll try to avoid that in the future.

(OOC: If you are abandoning the draft, you should put [ABANDONED] before the legislation title in the post topic title. It would also be a good idea for everyone else to stop posting here.)

[Deacarsia]

The General Assembly,
Recognizing that university education is one of the most important factors in determining someone's income and standard of living;
Observing that many are forced to not attend a university due to extremely high admission prices;
Understanding that many states have the capacity to subsidise universities but choose not to;
Hereby mandates that if a state is determined to be able to maintain a reasonable budget with the expense of the following clauses by and independent commission of economists they must:
a) Pay for at least 75% of a student who is unable to afford admission expenses relating directly to university attendance
b) Create a series of state run universities that are completely free for those with sufficient academic talent

Nay.