A friend and I had a mostly friendly discussion a few days ago about politics and poverty and specifically, college tuition giveaways and college loan debt cancellation. She sent me the following information and argument via text message about the affordability of a college education because, she insisted, that I just did not understand the difficulties that young people face nowadays:

Tuition at the University of Houston is about 13K a year with a Pell Grant for someone making 30K a year. To make 30K a year before taxes, one would need to work 60 hours a week at $10 an hour. So, let’s say you miraculously find that kind of job, not being college educated. Subtract 12K per year for rent and utilities (that’s on the low end). Then, subtract 13K to pay tuition. You’re left with $5000 to pay all other expenses for the entire year.

So, IF you can find a job where you can work 60 hours a week at $10 an hour and live off of approximately $400 a month for all other expenses including food and clothing and transportation, you might be able to afford college in your spare time, after you get done working twelve hours a day.

Her point is that college is unaffordable for anyone other than the very rich and that without a college education a good job that will support oneself plus a family is impossible to get. So she supports college loan forgiveness, free college for all, and an increase in the minimum wage.

I won’t argue with her numbers. I haven’t checked them, but I believe my friend’s math is about right. I just don’t agree with her perspective.

I can look at life and its challenges from at least two different perspectives. The first view says that the deck is stacked against me and against most people from the start by systemic injustice, racism, misogyny, and the accidents of birth (into poverty perhaps), health, and inherited intelligence and abilities. No matter how hard I work or what I try, I will never be able to overcome all the things that are working against my economic success and well-being, and if I somehow do become financially successful, it’s pure luck, nothing more. Therefore, we need government, the bigger the better, to come in and fix all of the injustices, provide the food and shelter and healthcare that we need, and make sure that no one benefits from being born rich or intelligent or healthy or of a class or race that is culturally privileged. Government must make sure that everyone can go to college. And government must also provide the money and opportunity for those who are economically disadvantaged to have the same education and healthcare and standard of living as those who are “born lucky.”

The second view, the one I hold, says that life is hard for all of us. I may be born rich but not healthy, or healthy but not of a privileged class, or intelligent but poor and and into a family that is disadvantaged or dysfunctional. Maybe a very few people are born rich and healthy and smart and socially advantaged and into a stable. loving family, but even those people face challenges because we all live in a broken world full of crime and pollution and false accusation and and broken relationships and accidents and all manner of evil that can stop even the most advantaged person in his tracks and send him on a completely different trajectory. But I sincerely believe that with hard work, determination, hope and faith in a good God who is at work in the world and in our individual lives, we can overcome our hardships and persevere through them and be successful. In this country in particular, we can work hard and make good economic decisions and look for opportunities and take them when they come, and we can be economically successful, not necessarily wealthy, but comfortable.

I believe in American success and prosperity. But even if the System beats me down, doesn’t allow me to go to college, makes me do without the healthcare I want because I can’t afford it, discriminates against me in terms of job opportunities or low wages, I believe that these injustices can be overcome and worked through by an individual who looks for opportunities instead of barriers and who cries out to the Lord for help and sustenance. (And even if I am wrong about the possibilities for success, it is much better to be optimistic and believe in the future than to give in to discouragement and despair.) Yes, sometimes we need the help of other people to continue on and to be successful. Yes, we should look for those who need a little help along the way and help them. But looking to the government for that help is a trap and a delusion.

When has government ever been able to administer a pure and honest and efficient and effective system of social welfare? Does an increase in the minimum wage help some people while hurting the overall economy and employment rate thereby hurting those who are looking for a job or who want to work more hours? Do I want to filter my dollars in taxes through a federal bureaucracy that will try to use that money to level out poverty and provide healthcare for everyone? Or is it more effective and compassionate to leave the dollars in my hands and encourage me to be generous on a local level to individuals, charities, churches, and other groups who are fighting poverty and disease and social injustice, case by case, person by person, on the ground? If I am faced with insuperable barriers to success and well-being, who is more likely to help me immediately, effectively, and without waste and corruption, the government or individuals in my community or family?

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

I Timothy 6:6-11

Yes, desire an education for the education’s sake. (If you can’t go to college, educate yourself.) Yes, try to be as healthy as you can. Yes, work to find a job that you can do well and that can pay you enough money to buy food, clothing, and shelter for your family. But above all, seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added to you, as the Lord sees fit to provide.