What could be better than the promise of four years of free college? Just last year the idea seemed to poll well.  But not everyone believes that a bachelor’s degree is the best path for them, or that it should be a universal path for others.

Americans are losing faith in college. Since 2013, belief that a 4-year college degree is worth the cost has decreased by 11 points. The decline is steepest among millennials, men, rural voters, and those with less than a 4-year degree. Now we’re told that Democratic pollsters are warning their clients that even free college is a losing message.

Edward-Isaac Dovere writes at Politico:

 The call for free college tuition fosters both resentment at ivory tower elitism and regret from people who have degrees but are now buried under debt. Many voters see “free” as a lie — either they’ll end up paying for tuition some other way, or worse, they’ll be paying the tuition of someone else who’ll be getting a degree for free.

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Gerstein Bocian Agne Strategies conducted online polling of 1,000 Democrats and 1,000 swing voters across 52 swing districts for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Their advice to candidates afterward: Drop the talk of free college. Instead, the firms urged Democrats to emphasize making college more affordable and reducing debt, as well as job skills training, according to an internal DCCC memo. 

‘When Democrats go and talk to working-class voters, we think talking to them about how we can help their children go to college, they have a better life, is great,’ said Ali Lapp, executive director of House Majority PAC, which supports Democratic House candidates. ‘They are not interested. … It’s a problem when you have a growing bloc in the electorate think that college is not good, and they actually disdain folks that go to college.’ 

These are amazing claims. Bernie Sanders made headway trying to become the Democratic nominee for President with his sweeping proposal to make college free for everyone. It must have been working because Hillary Clinton came out with a similar proposal. So what gives? 

Our experience tells us that “free” usually comes with a catch.

Free college is a winner with voters Democrats can count on in 2020. But if they want to win back the White House (or the Congress), Democrats will probably need to win back some working class voters in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. And to do that, free college proposals might not do the trick.   

Why “Free” Falls Flat 

Our experience tells us that “free” usually comes with a catch. Maybe tax increases. Or too much government control. Many working class voters aren’t sure they even need college. They were probably raised by parents who didn’t attend college. The assumption that a four-year college is what they need smacks of elitism.

Americans who weren’t raised on a silver spoon, who have had to work hard to support themselves, tend to value thrift, diligence, and personal responsibility. They don’t want something for nothing, and they don’t want to pay for others to get something for nothing. They’re more likely to think that if you choose college for its benefits you should also bear at least some of its costs. For folks like this, the idea of free college — or student loan forgiveness — is as offensive as bailing out Wall St. firms, and for the same reason: Why should anyone get a pass from experiencing the law of sowing and reaping? 

Underlying all of this is record low trust in institutions. Politicians, pundits, the media, none of these have much trust from rank and file Americans. Even if you might want free college, but don’t think Uncle Sam can deliver, you’re unlikely to buy the rhetoric. You’ll more likely to receive it as unwelcome pandering. Especially with fresh memories of being told that your health insurance premiums would come down and that “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”  

We’re used to politicians telling us what we want to hear. Like him or not, one of the ways Trump won the working class was by appearing to be authentic and therefore trustworthy. Be it crime, immigration or health care, he came across as acknowledging hard truths that other politicians would prefer to ignore. So when Trump says we can’t afford generous Obama-era student loan forgiveness programs, or that we need to end subsidized student loans, he’s believed. But when Bernie Sanders says we can make college free and get the rich to pay for it, he’s not.

Dr. Alex Chediak (Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley) is a professor and the author of Thriving at College (Tyndale House, 2011), a roadmap for how students can best navigate the challenges of their college years. His latest book is Beating the College Debt Trap. Learn more about him at www.alexchediak.com or follow him on Twitter (@chediak).