Quote:
Originally Posted by aceventura3
There are both benefits to the individual and to society, however the biggest (or net) benefit is to the individual
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That isn't what net benefit means, not in any usage I've ever seen it.
Net benefit is when you add up the benefits, and subtract out the costs.
As such, both the individual and the society can have a positive net benefit when the society subsidizes the higher education costs of the individual.
In fact, there is a technical term for when a situation (like higher education) is worth subsidizing -- a "positive externality".
Suppose that each person who has a higher education earns an extra 100,000$ over their lifetime.
But, they generate, on average, an extra 50,000$ worth of benefit for the rest of the society they live in, above and beyond that million dollars.
And let's presume we properly future-discounted both.
Finally, let's assume we have 3 people. A gets half the benefit as above from the university education, B the above benefit, and C gets +50% over. On average, they line up with that benefit.
In Country X, higher education costs 120,000$. Nobody but C (1/3 of the candidates) finds it worth taking higher education.
In Country Y, the city makes higher education cost 30,000$ less by spending taxpayer money. In Y, both B and C end up going to higher education.
In Country X, there was 50,000$ in education-externalities captured by the citizens of the country.
In Country Y, there where 100,000$ in education-externalities captured by the citizens of the country, and they spent 30,000$ in extra taxes to get it.
Country Y became 20,000$ richer because it made it's university education cheaper.
Now, note that citizen B also gained a benefit from the education -- but before the subsidy, it wasn't worth citizen B's
personal spending to get that education.
I apologize if this econ 101 rant is something you have heard before.
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An alternative explanation is that you meant you should subtract the benefits to the individual from the benefits to the rest of society. This is a zero-sum economics model, and leads to silly and dangerous things like Marxism and not spending money on education.