EverRespect
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RE: Separation of Schools and the State.
(09-25-2014 11:39 AM)Hambone10 Wrote: (09-25-2014 11:26 AM)EverRespect Wrote: My question about a voucher system is this: if every parent were given a voucher equal to the current per student cost to attend private schools, would anything change? In other words, let's say the voucher is for $10,000. Wouldn't current $10,000 per year private schools simply up the tuition to $20,000 and pretty much maintain status quo while the new schools spinning off and offering the $10,000 tuition be the same crappy schools that the government system created? You will still have supply and demand. The other thing that scares me about vouchers is that I am sure many cities will only offer them based on income needs so what will happen is the middle class will get screwed and whereas before they needed to come up with $10,000 to send their child to a decent private school and after they will have to come up with substantially more.
This model has been demonstrated in numerous situations in the past. I'm sure that SOME extremely elite, wealthy people only would try, but if people would pay $20,000, why are they only charging them $10,000? You say there is still supply and demand, but if the equilibrium point is obviously near $10,000... and not at $20,000. Where is the new supply of people who can afford $20,000 going to come from?
I think the more likely scenario is that some will go to about $13,000... and you'd find that SOME people who get the $10,000 voucher would think it was worth an extra $3,000 to get that education... but more significantly, you'd have a large number of entities decide that they can provide a good education for $10,000 per person and thus competition would actually create a buyer's market for education. Just look at higher education. Yes, education has gotten more expensive, but there are also Universities where you can get your degree for about $1,000 per month... far less for SOME degrees. There are thousands of Universities, and many of them are essentially identical in cost... but they are all unique in their focus. The ones that do well have a popular focus.
My point is that if people would be willing to spend $20,000 (out of pocket) on education, somebody would open that school and they would already be sending their kids to that school. They wouldn't just pay $20,000 for the same education that they are currently only paying $10,000 for. Yes, some will move up, but by moving up, they will also price themselves out of reach of many of their former students... and someone else will fill that void.
Some good points, but if you have that elite school at $10k and now everyone has $10k and wants to attend the school, how do you select who gets the limited slots? There are 2 scenarios: if everyone gets a voucher, the tuition will absolutely go up to $20k. If the vouchers are income based, the demand for the school goes up and perhaps they can can raise the tuition to $13k. In this case, the middle class parents will find a way to make it happen, but they still get screwed. It is also much easier for a low income family to raise $3,000 out of pocket than for a middle income family to raise $13k. The middle income family has more expenses in regards to housing and maintaining a middle-income lifestyle, whatever that is anymore. Bottom line is the elite school, IMO, will always be the elite school and the crappy school will always be the crappy school. The only fair way to do a voucher system is that everyone gets the voucher and in that case, nothing changes other than school administration.
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