Jul 8, 2018 3 min read

It’s easy to scoff at the Keystone Scholars grant program, which gives every newborn or adopted child in Pennsylvania $100 they can use toward their education after high school.

Yeah, great, you might think. That will pay for what by 2036 or so? A couple of hours of classroom instruction? A handful of meals at the campus commissary? Parking fees for a semester?

Of course, the $100 the commonwealth chips in at birth isn’t going to go very far when little Emma, Liam, Logan or Charlotte are ready to head off to campus in 18, 19 or 20 years. But its primary purpose is to get parents and guardians thinking about saving for college. When looked at from that angle, it’s a laudable endeavor. It also should be noted it’s being paid for not out of the general fund, but through private donations and surplus investment earnings from the PA Guaranteed Savings Program.

According to state Treasurer Joe Torsella, “Research has shown that a baby with a higher education savings account at birth is three times more likely to pursue education or training after high school, and four times more likely to graduate.”

But lawmakers would be doing the students of the 2030s, the 2040s and beyond a bigger favor by reducing the costs of a college or university education between now and then.

This is a national problem. The price tag on a college degree has been outpacing inflation since the 1990s, leaving students across the country saddled with debt they will cart around with them for a large chunk of their working lives. Earlier this year, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that the $1.38 trillion in education debt being paid off by Americans could well stymie economic growth. Other prognosticators have warned that a student loan bubble could spark another economic crisis.

And the problem is being acutely felt in Pennsylvania. As of 2017, only New Jersey and New Hampshire’s public institutions of higher education were costlier than those in Pennsylvania. Granted, the heftier tuition at state-related schools like Penn State University and the University of Pittsburgh drive up the average, but Pennsylvania’s schools are nevertheless pricey. Funding levels from Harrisburg have been stagnant. In 2017, $4,021 was spent per student by Pennsylvania, while the national average is $7,642. The decreasing number of college-age people in the commonwealth has also helped drive up costs.

Put simply, it’s penny-wise and pound foolish not to invest in higher education. The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center pointed out in a 2014 study that states with the largest numbers of college graduates – the top five include Massachusetts, Maryland and Connecticut – have hourly wage levels almost 50 percent greater than the lowest-ranking states (and those include West Virginia, Arkansas and Kentucky). Metro regions with higher numbers of college graduates see a rise in both their gross domestic products and their wages.

Despite the imprudent efforts of some policymakers to bring back the economic and social milieu of America in the 1950s, the world is moving forward. Brains, not brawn, will win the day. Pennsylvania should be a state that invests in higher education and the future, rather than a state that shortchanges both.