Is college still considered a "public good"?

Here's a piece from the Chronicle of Higher Education that recalls when that was a shared value in the US and questions whether that remains true today.

The author quotes Gary Rhoades, a University of Arizona professor and former president of the AAUP to the effect that "We have been systematically disinvesting in higher education, and that is precisely at the time when people who want higher education — lower-income kids, students of color, and immigrant kids — have increased."

Continues Chronicle writer Scott Carlson, "Meanwhile, for poor whites, the economic options have narrowed. Decades ago, manufacturing was a path to a decent livelihood, but those jobs disappeared, to be replaced by work that requires postsecondary training. This year white, non-college-educated voters registered their frustration in the presidential election. At a time when the cost of college drives a national conversation about its payoffs, policy decisions that have made college less accessible have hurt everyone, regardless of race."

Mr. Trump says he will bring back the manufacturing jobs of the past.  Perhaps he can at least to some extent.  But will these jobs be done by blue-collar workers or by robots?

In June 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported, "A new generation of robots is on the way—smarter, more mobile, more collaborative and more adaptable. They promise to bring major changes to the factory floor, as well as potentially to the global competitive landscape."

Last January another publication confirmed, "The trend for better, smarter robotics is spreading to new industries as well. The primary consumer and investor of robots in North America, the automotive industry, decreased robot ordering from 41 percent in 2005 to 21 percent in 2014. Yet, the food and consumer goods industry increased robot orders from 3 to 7 percent, and use of robotics in life sciences, pharmaceuticals, and biomedical jumped from 2 to 6 percent, asserts the Robotic Industries Association. These changes are only possible with more capable robotics."

What kind of economy is this leading us into?  Buy yourself a copy of Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano,
a 1950s Sci Fi classic that postulates an America in which a handful of highly educated elites run everything.   Meanwhile, most of the populations works on road crews, mainly to keep them busy.  Income distribution ensures a reasonable standard of living for all.  Was Vonnegut a prophet?  Perhaps so.

What the blue-collar folks who swept Trump into office may not get is that they just might be the vanguard of a growing underclass of permanently un- and under-employed that will only grow in the face of robotics and globalization.

Higher education can only do so much to keep this underclass as small as possible.  How much can be done will depend in large measure on how much government is prepared to invest in America's world-beating system of colleges and universities.  As Mr. Carlson and Dr. Rhoades point out, at the present time, the commonweal seems to have little taste for such an investment.