The “f-word,” free college, is currently weighing heavily on everyone’s mind and a Linfield economics professor assessed the pros and cons of this new endeavor.

“The Economics of Higher Education,” presented on Wednesday, was a chance for economics professor Jeff Summers to share insights from his January Term course with the same title.

Summers said the idea of making college free is not efficient or fair because the opportunity will go to those students who can afford to pay for college rather than those who are supposed to benefit from free college.

Institutional diversity is a key component in the fundamentals of higher education. Schools range from four-year universities to two-year colleges, public to private, and each has a different set of objectives, like job preparation or learning experiences.

Even with the diversity involved in institutions, the average student only travels 51 miles away from home to attend college.

Summers then talked about the demand for higher education and whether or not the return on investment outweighs the cost.

On average, students paying $20,000 annually for college will be able to pay off debts by the time they are 40 years old.

Although this seems far off, people with a college education make more than if they only had a high school education because of human capital accumulation.

In addition to making more money, studies show that those with more years of schooling tend to be happier with their lives.

Finally, Summers talked about affordability and disruptions with higher education. There are three theories on why tuition increases, the “Three B’s,” as Summers called them.

The Bennett theory states that Federal student financial aid causes tuition to rise.

The Baumol theory says that professors teach the same material as they did 20 years ago but tuition increases because the teaching quality is better today thanks to technological advances.

The Bowen theory states that colleges raise all the money they can and spend all the money they raise to improve the quality of education, but this makes tuition rise.

Demographic, value and technological disruptions also threaten tuition increases.

Demographically, more students want to attend college who have not wanted to in the past. For instance, first generation students and minority groups who might need more financial aid.

Along with the slow down of high school students aspiring to go to college, this will also force institutions to be less selective with whom they accept.

The disruption of value is simply colleges saying, here is what we have to offer and here is the price students must pay. The disruption is whether or not students value higher education enough to pay that amount.

Technological disruptions go hand in hand with technological advances.

Online courses are appealing to first generation students because they can be more affordable and flexible. This threatens the need for traditional styles of teaching.

However, most students still say they prefer to have an actual professor in class rather than take online courses.

All of these factors or a combination of some contribute to the increase in tuition costs for higher education.