The following story, in which the head of a state employees’s union says higher education can be free, offers useful insight into why California is in such an economic mess.

Could public colleges be free?

Yes, says the head of the union for University of California’s 4,000 instructors and librarians.

How?

Trim non-essential functions, redirect a bunch of money and end tax breaks that mostly benefit wealthy college-goers’ families, argues University Council-American Federation of Teachers President Bob Samuels. Of course, not everyone would agree with his definition of non-essential, particularly researchers.

Samuels’ new book says students have become “slaves to debt” because colleges have decided to get into “expensive and disorienting” endeavors – research labs funded by external dollars, luxury dorms and athletics – that have little to do with instructing students. He says American higher education costs more than it should and undergraduates are forced to pick up the tab for university mission creep. On top of that, undergrads are suffering through large, impersonal classes and left in the hands of graduate students. While Samuels wants all of public higher education to be free, many of his examples of spending cuts are generally found at research universities with big-time athletics and don’t exist at, say, community colleges, which already charge bare-bones rates.

The book, Why Public Higher Education Should Be Free: How to Decrease Costs and Increase Quality at American Universities (Rutgers University Press), offers a relatively simple if audacious proposal: redirect government higher ed spending so some 11 million students can attend public two and four-year institutions free of charge. That’s the “decrease costs” part.

To “increase quality,” trim costs for athletics and pricey administrators and star professors who don’t teach much anyway. Use the savings to reduce class sizes and hire qualified instructors who can spend time with students.

Samuels estimates that full-time undergraduate tuition, room and board and other expenses at public four-year institutions and community colleges costs about $130 billion a year. Then, Samuels estimates that the state and federal governments could come up with $180 billion a year by better using the money they already pay to public colleges and redirecting the money they spend on student aid and lose to higher ed-related tax breaks for parents and students with mostly wealthy backgrounds. (NOTE: This pararagraph has been updated to correct the subject of the $130 million figure.”)