evidence: This policy brief discusses the economics of free college. An important cause of current levels of economic inequality is growing demand for college-level skills that began in the 1980s, combined with slow growth in the number of young people receiving degrees. A high-quality college education teaches critical thinking and abstract problem-solving, and also helps students think seriously about values and ethics. Technological change will make these skills more valuable than ever. Thus expanding access to higher education is an urgent national priority. [...] Yet despite the growing economic burden of paying for college, attendance rates have continued to rise. This is because – despite all its faults – a college education is one of the best investments a young person can make. The economic return to a college degree is still near an all-time high of around 14 percent per year – double the long-term return on stocks. While student loan burdens are growing rapidly, debt is still low relative to the long-run economic payoff of a college degree (motivating some economists to call for a stronger income-based repayment system). [...] Valero, Anna, and John Van Reenen. The economic impact of universities: Evidence from across the globe. No. w22501. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2016.