The mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, David Cicilline, is proposing that the city's 25,000 private college students be taxed $150 each semester to help Providence get through its current budget crisis. That means $300 out of each student's pocket every year, ignoring the myriad ways students are already supporting the economy: through payroll taxes via their on and off-campus jobs, by keeping hundreds of local eateries and shops in business, and by contributing to a vibrant rental housing market -- just to name a few. I attended college in Providence, at Brown. There are three other private colleges in the city: the Rhode Island School of Design, Johnson and Wales, and Providence College. As the AP reports, the schools generate more than $1 billion a year in economic activity and provide about 9,000 jobs. That is significant during a recession, in a city of just 172,000 people. What's more, the cultural activity around these colleges has been crucial to Providence's transition from a crime-and-corruption-ridden backwater to the "Renaissance City" of today. Consider the world-renowned RISD art museum, or the restaurants opened by JWU-trained chefs. I love Providence. Had there been more career opportunities there for a young journalist, I might have stayed. Sadly, Cicilline's ploy looks like little more than a pander, meant to play off uninformed resentment toward college kids. --Dana Goldstein
