Remember that saying about things that sound too good to be true?

It goes double in an election year, which is why we want to urge a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to legislation kicking around both chambers of the Pennsylvania legislature that would make college tuition and room and board free for many students at state-owned and state-related universities and community colleges.

Two bills, House Bill 2444 and Senate Bill 1111, would put the state on the hook to cover tuition and fees at any of the 14 state-owned universities and state-related institutions for recent high school graduates whose families earn $110,000 or less.

The bills would also cover tuition and fees at the state’s 14 public community colleges, and cover room and board at those colleges, and state-owned and state-related institutions if a student’s family earns $48,000 or less.

Proponents and sponsors of the bills, to their credit, point out that this is an idea worthy of discussion.

“We’re here to ask ... Why not free college?” said Philadelphia Democrat state Sen. Vincent Hughes, a sponsor of SB 1111, Wednesday. “What is wrong with that idea? Why not free and affordable college?”

Indeed. Why not? Pennsylvania, which is dealing with a population that continues to grow older rapidly, needs to encourage young people to stay. It also needs to address the fact that college students here have the nation’s second-highest student debt when they graduate.

Those are real and serious issues facing the state, and failing to address them will have negative, long-term consequences for Pennsylvania.

But there are simply some things the state cannot afford. Spending an estimated $800 million to make this initiative a reality is among them.

Where would that money come from? Which programs or departments should go under the knife? What new taxes do legislators propose to fund this initiative?

So far the only answer to those questions comes from Hughes, who proposes using taxes from shale gas drilling to pay the tab.

That, frankly, seems like a non-starter of an idea. We can’t countenance siphoning off proceeds from the state’s impact fee to pay for this initiative. And we don’t believe any new taxes on the drilling industry are in the cards for this budget cycle. Republicans in the General Assembly simply will not allow that to happen.

The fuzzy plan for how to pay for this combined with overreach in the bills themselves — $110,000 is too high a benchmark for free tuition — should be enough to convince nearly everyone that it’s not a serious effort.

Which is a shame, because we weren’t simply paying lip service to those problems mentioned above. We just don’t believe anyone will be willing to have the difficult discussions necessary when the proposed starting point appears to be nothing more than an election year stunt.