New Jersey should not be paying to send your kid to college (Opinion)

If you're a parent, the day your child is born you start thinking about their future. Maybe you set up a college fund or have money taken out of your paycheck to provide for their education. Perhaps you get a second job or hustle. Being a parent is an expensive responsibility, especially when it comes to a college education, unless you're low income and living in New Jersey.

Gov. Murphy in his new budget proposal wants to set aside $50 million for making the first two years tuition-free at four-year colleges for families with incomes under $65,000. Isn't he nice with our money? This from the man who in his last budget wanted to give every newborn a $1,000 savings account for families making less than $131,000 a year.

Not for nothing, but why is it New Jersey's responsibility to provide college tuition for low-income families? There are several grants, programs and scholarships for that. Don't we have bigger things to worry about like reducing the property taxes of those who are trying so hard to live in New Jersey?

If you have children, it's your responsibility to provide for them. If you want them to go to college then you've got 18 years to figure out how to make that happen. If that means getting a better job, or a second job or taking a course to get you a better job, so be it. But it's not the responsibility of New Jersey taxpayers, who happened to have worked hard enough to earn more than $65,000 a year, to pay the bill.

Trust me when I say, we have enough trouble putting our own kids through college. I'm not trying to be cold here, just fair. Being successful in New Jersey should not be a disadvantage and under this proposal it definitely is.

If Murphy wants to set up a GoFundMe page or start a charity whose job it is to create scholarships for children from low-income families to go to college, go for it. But when it comes to our tax dollars there are way more important things to spend it on.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise. Any opinions expressed are Steve's own. Steve Trevelise is on New Jersey 101.5 Monday-Thursday from 7pm-11pm. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.