There is no reason a college degree could not be free to all. Here's how...

One of the most expensive, yet least cost-effective things in America is a college education. It is also completely unnecessary except in extraordinary circumstances.

Certainly, professions that can mean life and death such as doctors and nurses do require hands-on educational experience. But nearly every other profession can easily be learned without paying $100,000 or more for the education.

Look at the purpose of college - to obtain the knowledge required to qualify to enter a certain field of endeavor, whether it be Animal Husbandry or Zoologist. But what no one is telling you is that all of that knowledge is readily available, and could be made freely available to all.

Take accounting, for example. The same colleges have been teaching the same accounting principles for hundreds of years. It has become redundant - charging the student of 2011 $30,000 a year to learn what has already been taught over and over to millions of others. It is a case of "re-inventing the wheel".

There is a better way. We should charge our Congress to make it a law that, except in life-and-death type careers, anyone who can pass an exam designed to determine a person's knowledge and ability in their chosen field would be issued a college diploma. This is no different from the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) which currently allows only a few certain credits, or a GED for a high school diploma - if a person has the knowledge and training to do the job, they should be issued a diploma, regardless of how or where they got that education. Abraham Lincoln never went to school - he was self-taught, and still became a lawyer, and later, the President of the United States.

Of course, we should still offer formal education for those who simply want the prestige, and for advanced graduate work. For example, you could get a Bachelor's Degree from self-education, but a Master's would require attendance at a college or university.

The qualification tests can be administered at the local colleges and universities. Of course, there would be a nominal fee, but it should not be more than $500.

This accomplishes several things, all of them good:

1) Every person willing to put in the time and effort would be able to get a college degree, even if they don't have a dime

2) Young marrieds would not have to sacrifice an education in order to support their families

3) The billions saved would be used to buy homes, cars, furniture - or to pursue a Master's. In any case, it spurs economic growth and productivity

With the internet, it would be incredibly easy for the government to put up a website for each field, with all the education necessary. In those instances where "lab work" is required to prove proficiency, the self-taught student may pay a small fee at the local college to perform that lab work and receive a certificate of proficiency.

The short of it --- in order to qualify to enter a certain field of endeavor, each person should only be required to prove they can handle it. It should not matter where, when or how they got the education - only that they got it, and are qualified.

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