Wilson's Cost Benefit Analysis

This examination for ideological elements has begun to build a picture of America’s College Promise’s costs and benefits, an approach to typology favored by James Q. Wilson. Wilson asks whether costs and benefits are limited to a small group or spread widely. Spreading costs makes it easier to enact a policy as no one group feels the pinch (Birkland, 2015, p. 215-216). This would be the case with America’s College Promise as the costs would be covered by general revenues of the state and federal governments (American Association, 2015). A portion of the public funds now spent on financial aid would be re-directed to the new policy, but free tuition for more well-off students would be a new expense. Even if moderate conservatives favor the policy, those at the far right would likely object. The benefits would also be spread widely, however, with a notable shift to middle and upper-middle class traditional-aged students and the suburban community
210). Wilson’s cost-benefit typology exposes the potential with America’s College Promise for certain groups to fall through the cracks, for conflict between suburban and urban community colleges and between two- and four-year schools. Policymakers could use this information to make amendments as the proposal moves through the legislative process. A cost-benefit typology lacks the simplicity of a liberal versus conservative typology, making it less accessible to the general public. A cost-benefit approach would appeal more to professional groups, such as college governing bodies, which may shy away from “getting into politics.” If the goal of typologies is to reveal more about policies and the policy process, the best approach for education policies such as America’s College Promise would involve those who understand the inner workings of the affected