Of course, the idea of “free college” makes no sense to anyone who understands the economic concept of opportunity cost, but we keep hearing it from politicians who see clueless voters as easy marks. Government cannot make anything free.

In today’s Martin Center article, however, Professor Richard Vedder discusses a different take on “free” college, namely the way many employers now include at least some college education as a benefit for employees.

First, Vedder observes that the “free college” proposals that many leftist politicians love would mostly benefit moderately wealthy families. They would get to send their kids to college with taxpayers picking up more of the cost than they currently do. It’s reverse Robin Hood. He writes, “Proposals, such as Senator Bernie Sanders’, for free college open to students at four-year state universities are almost certainly likely to primarily benefit students from moderately affluent families. Moreover, many really low-income families already get the equivalent of free or very low-cost tuition anyway, through school need-based scholarships and federal Pell Grants. Politicians are using proposed relief from high tuition costs resulting from dysfunctional federal student loan programs to promote their own re-election rather than truly help the poor.”

On the other hand, a growing number of employers including Starbucks, Walmart, and Disney, are giving employees the opportunity to take courses at selected colleges, provided they pay a nominal amount like a dollar a day. They aren’t doing this just to be nice (although they might pitch this as evidence of being “good corporate citizens”), but, Vedder argues, to compete in a tight labor market.

“Wages have been rising,” Vedder writes, “more for those with minimal education than for college graduates in recent years because big box stores and fast food restaurant chains are having trouble getting employees. Companies report that the prospects of a low-cost college education enormously increase the retention rate of new hires –critically important where labor shortages exist.”

The workers who take advantage of such programs are more apt to learn something useful than are full-time students fresh out of high school, taking a load of college courses paid for by the taxpayers.