The capital of the Evergreen State mulled in May the idea of imposing a 1.5 percent personal income tax on residents of Olympia earning income in excess of $200,000, as reported by the Associated Press on May 18th.

The reason for this new tax: to create a $2.5 million fund to provide local public high school graduates tuition assistance.

The WSU Board of Regents is also attempting an alleviating measure. This newspaper reported May 11 the board approved a measure to reduce resident undergraduate tuition for the 2016-2017 academic year by 10 percent.

As well-intentioned as both these measures are, I draw issue with both.

In the instance of the Olympia tax hike, it is again merely a tax and spend policy, not a direct assault on the cause of higher tuitions. It does nothing to address the problem of why college educations cost this much to begin with.

It is part of this maddening political obsession with jumping right to taxation rather than holding the institutions charging these costs to account.

The WSU Board of Regents also falls short in its generosity. It only applies to undergraduate residents. Once again, this institution sacrifices its non-resident undergraduates and its graduate students to the ravenous revenue gods.

The College Board reported for the 2015-2016 academic year that full-time resident four-year public institution undergraduates paid on average $9,410. Public non-resident undergraduates paid on average $23,893, and private undergraduates paid on average $32,405. These numbers are just fees and tuition, not room and board. With room and board, add $11,000 to each of the aforementioned numbers.

Setting private universities aside, public universities in the United States are using the price mechanism to tell out-of-state students to stay home, yet on average the out-of-state student generates $14,400 in additional revenue.

This situation is as bad for graduate students. WSU Student Financial Services estimates a resident graduate student will pay $28,776 for the upcoming academic year; the non-resident will pay $42,208. By only considering in-state undergraduates, the regents have signaled to out-of-state undergraduates and all graduates that we are only valued for our tuition.

Now, do not expect me to dole out the Bern by advocating free university for all Americans. University education even in most European countries comes with some minor fees. Making university completely free creates a dangerous opportunity for free riders- individuals who think college is a free lunch that does not require hard work or initiative.

However, university education should not be a new road to serfdom. The Wall Street Journal reported May 2 that the average college graduate has $37,172 in student debt.

Taking the average tuition and fees for a resident public university undergraduate, this means the average in-state student is completely debt financing their college education. This is neither sustainable nor ethical in an economy that demands ever more talented and skilled workers.

Like a good classic liberal, let me resurrect the notion of the social contract: by living in society we enjoy mutual security but also must respect our mutual obligation to each other. This is not respected for college students. We are told we will get good jobs if we have a college degree, but then we walk out of university – most of us, anyway – indentured in debt to the government or a financial institution.

To address this broken social contract, we must first address why American universities need or want this much in tuition and fees. The root problem is the charges universities demand, a problem only exacerbated by governments and financial houses handing out toxic loans left and right. Only when we solve the issue of the high price of a university education can we solve the problem of student debt.

Tyler Laferriere is a graduate student pursuing his master’s in economics from Phoenix, Arizona. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.