The legislature likely will feel hard pressed to increase funding beyond this level. Even so, some will argue that the state should increase student educational grants and tuition subsidies. For without aid, potential students may decide college education is financially too risky. They may doubt that their future earnings will suffice to pay off the debt they incur to attend college. It's important for state lawmakers and potential students to consider what research and economic theory have to say about the worth of higher education, its costs and who should bear them.
Education increases state and national wealth .
Between 1929 and 1998, the per capita output of the national economy grew by 240 percent. An increasingly educated workforce often is credited for most of this growth. Economist Edward Denison, in his path-breaking study of the sources of growth, estimates that one quarter of the increase in output between 1929 and 1969 is attributable to increases in American levels of educational attainment. U.S. educational attainment has increased dramatically during the 20 th century. Most people born between 1886 and 1905 did not attend school beyond the 8 th grade.