Education is sometimes said to be a “public good” that can’t be provided without government financial assistance.
Not so, says Hillsdale College, and proves the point. Since the 1980s, Hillsdale has provided its students with all the money that federal student aid programs would have given them, in order to maintain its independence from the bureaucrats in Washington. Now, the school has also decided to cut all financial ties to the state government in Michigan. This Detroit News editorial covers the story. The school will replace $670,000 worth of state aid with money raised privately.
When Hillsdale opened back in 1844, it was one of the few colleges that refused to discriminate against any applicant. It set a good example then, and does so now with its policy of running without any dependence on money taken from taxpayers.
