Citing Soaring Student Debt, Sanders to Pitch Tuition-Free Higher Education

[kpete]

The proposal, which Sanders plans to introduce on Tuesday, would eliminate undergraduate tuition at public colleges and universities and expand work-study programs.

"Countries like Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and many more are providing free or inexpensive higher education for their young people," Sanders, who is running for president as a Democrat, said in a news release. "They understand how important it is to be investing in their youth. We should be doing the same."

Earlier this year, in a speech at Johnson State College in Vermont, Sanders called for a "revolution" in the way higher education is funded in the U.S.

"We must fundamentally restructure our student loan program," he said at the time, adding: "It makes no sense that students and their parents are forced to pay interest rates for higher education loans that are much higher than they pay for car loans or housing mortgages. We must also end the practice of the government making $127 billion over the next decade in profits from student loans."


http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/05/17/citing-soaring-student-debt-sanders-pitch-tuition-free-higher-education

[daleanime]

1. Massive K&R.....

[yeoman6987]

13. Room and board and fees should be included

Those are costly even more then the tuition in some cases.

[Omaha Steve]

2. K&R!

[sadoldgirl]

3. He is absolutely correct with this assessment.

The problem is our educational system has dumbed
down the youngsters instead of lifting them up.
It is obviously too dangerous to teach kids to think
in an independent way.

[Buzz Clik]

4. Yikes.

I wonder if he's put pencil to paper on this proposition...

[Cassidy1]

5. All education should be free.

A college degree is a necessity today. Just like a high school diploma years ago. You need one. I think all of this should be subsidized. That includes these ridiculous costs for books at $200 a clip. I don't know how an 18 year old survives. You can't go full time to school and living in student housing. I think the housing should be subsidized, if not downright paid for.

[okasha]

6. It's a wonderful idea.

So is Medicare for everyone.

We could pay for both if we defund the war machine. How is that going to get past a Republican Congress?

[still_one]

7. Obama proposed that also

[woo me with science]

10. Not quite the same.

Obama's plan was for two free years of community college, offered only to students below a certain income.

Bernie's proposal is a much more ambitious restructuring of the entire funding of higher education. It would eliminate undergraduate tuition at public colleges and universities, just like in some European countries. It would also expand work-study programs.

And I believe Bernie is serious about rallying and educating the nation to build public support and pressure to welcome something like this.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

8. k&R

[merrily]

9. LOL In my entire family is only one relative who is a Republican.

It would be so nice to type "My entire extended family is Democratic," without having to make an exception for this one relative.

He and his wife are working two jobs each and, for a variety of reasons, still can't keep up. His only child, the apple of his eye, of course, is in high school. I think I just may be able to get him to vote for Bernie!

[woo me with science]

11. Hear, hear! These are the kinds of bold ideas we need.

Civilized countries realize that education is an investment.

[KingCharlemagne]

12. Has Hillary responded yet or is she still waiting on her focus groups and 200+ paid

advisors?

[rhett o rick]

14. Her advisors have told her to keep her head down and she will waltz into the White House. nm

[KingCharlemagne]

15. Tom Dewey, v 2.0. Got it! But see below:

[BrotherIvan]

19. That just activates the bat signal and will totally blow apart this thread

Bernie has so much good to talk about and I'm glad to see he's getting some air time to talk about this. I hope every young person hears about this. It's a great idea and I think people have stopped believing it's possible. But Bernie has a plan, so let's shout about it.

[taught_me_patience]

16. How much is this going to cost and how do we pay for it?

A more modest approach would allow people to deduct student loan interest from income without any restriction. That might even have a chance of passing the current congress.

[Doctor_J]

18. cut the Pentagon budget by 40%

We could pay for school, healthcare, and new roads.

[AgingAmerican]

22. Raise taxes on the wealthy

nt

[AzDar]

17. Bernie!!

[abelenkpe]

20. K&R

[Pauldg47]

21. I had a son who graduated from a 2-year private trade school....he's autistic....

.....how bout him. A lawyer said he's got a good case, but said he won't take it, because he's got a family to feed.

The school knew he was in special ed and promised him great success w/ big pay. What do we do now? I was let down by this article.

[AgingAmerican]

23. Not sure what you are saying here

??

[djean111]

24. I am afraid that there are two things that will make this a non-starter.

First, too much profit is made from student loans. Even our government profits from student loans.

Second - human nature, and one of the things that keep us under the 1% - there will be a LOT of people who will say that hey, I had to go into debt, and have been paying off my loans - why should anybody else get a free ride? Much like some people were aghast at the foreclosure situation, and thought that homeowners should have been helped, instead of just giving the banks the money to cover the mortgages - but still requiring the homeowners to pay the mortgages! - but to actually see a neighbor have their mortgage reduced made them angry because after all, they had been "prudent".

The rich know that they all will profit, directly or eventually or indirectly from anything that favors any one of them. It is difficult to convince the 99% to feel the same way.

That's just something I have noticed. Hopefully OWS is still busily buying up debts and such. They have to do it quietly, or else some people will be upset because, after all, they slaved for years and years to pay down medical debts or student loans, why should anyone else get a free ride. never mind that if we don't fix this by just stopping it, the debt slavery will go on forever.