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| Courtesy of Facebook |
Titled the “College for All Act,” the bill would eliminate the $70 billion dollar tuition costs at all 4-year public colleges and universities.
Under the plan, the Federal Government would cover 67% — $47 billion dollars each year — of the costs.
States would be required to produce the remaining 33% of the costs, or 23 billion dollars.
Damn that sounds good.
You know the only reason I did not finish my college education was that I simply could not afford it, and was terrified of accumulating debt that I would never be able to pay off.
I would given anything to have a program like this available back then.
I went to college in the early 70s in California. Community college cost me $25 a quarter plus books. That $25 paid for my tuition and health insurance. When I went to SF State my tuition was $125 a semester plus books. I understand how costs could rise, but not to the point of putting people in debt for 10 or 20 years. For me, working part-time paid for everything. Love Bernie Sanders and hope that someone will actually listen to him.
ReplyDeleteI like Bernie too, but your first point is the important one. Why is college so expensive? Having the government pay for it - is like feeding the beast. The beast needs to go on a major diet. It should be affordable enough that people should be able to pay for college on their own. Institutions have become big business run by CEOs.
DeleteSame here.
DeleteFor $125 I could take 12 units or more per semester. I did have to buy my books but got most of them used or studied in the library.
I lived at home and worked part time and during the summer to pay for gas and books and the last few years tuition too.
I had no debt when I graduated and I lived at home my first few years of teaching to save up for a car and then an apartment and eventually I bought a house.
I don't see our current graduates being able to do any of that. They'll be so saddled with debt they'll never own a home.
Here in Massachusetts, the top 10% of each high school's graduating class is guaranteed free tuition at any of the state's colleges or universities. Senator Sanders' proposal would add help to the students who weren't in the top cohort, but could be accepted at one of the schools, and, especially, our local community college.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble is that the extra costs -- books, insurance, and, if you're living away from home, all your room and board --- are also a significant cost factor.
Yet, if one doesn't have to worry about tuition, a schedule of working, then scholarship, then working again, could raise the extra money needed to live away from home.
Our small town gives out grants to anyone with need who applies for aid. It's an endowed fund that's been around for decades. The gifts can be as much as $1,000 or more for those who demonstrate real hardship.The money can cover living costs and/or tuition.
Perhaps it's our New England heritage -- a tip of the hat to Brooklyn-born Vermont Senator Bernie -- that education is still a high priority in our state, even as budgets for public schools are constrained.
Having said all that, I, too, went to college in the late '60s, at a private school in New York City. I got some New York State scholarship help, money from the school, and took out a student loan that I finally repaid, at $54 each month, in 1984. But I could afford to pay that, and certainly wouldn't be able to attend that college if I had to take out huge loans now. We owe it to current and future children to ensure that they can enjoy the benefits that we were given in a different time.
I went to a community college in CA, using the old GI bill (1983) and was able to get 2 Associate Degrees before the funds ran out. I couldn't afford Fresno State. I delayed my education for years, finally getting my BS in 2001. But, it took student loans to do it. Salary-wise, it made a huge difference, but now I have the loan to pay.
ReplyDeleteI love it when you talk Sanders, Gryphen . . . .
ReplyDeletePlease . . . Don't stop!
I agree college should be free or at least accessible. I really think the Bush crime family stopped aid to colleges as part of an agenda: Once college got expensive, many could not attend and had to enter the military, instead (no draft), and those that went to college no longer had time for protests and thinking. Low income students had to work and were so saddled with debt they stopped protesting and thinking outside the box. Bernie is right, but even a college education has college graduates unable to support themselves these days. Human service jobs require a college degree but pay low wages, even for top students and good performers. However, it is a start!
ReplyDeleteIt used to be the G.I. Bill was like a full ride scholarship. That is how my Dad got his degree in engineering after the Korean war. The only one of his siblings to get a college degree.
DeleteI was the first of my generation to get a degree and the first to get a masters. Now my brother has a masters and I have two. Plenty of cousins are only high school graduates.
Sander's ideas are great, but there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of making that even out of committee.
ReplyDeleteRepubs and the Christian Teaparty militants only want more military hardware, more laws against abortion and gays, and less taxes for the wealthy.
For Dog's sake, even after the Amtrak crash, they cut Amtrak's budget by 200 million.
But they'll spend over one Trillion on the F35 fighter jet, and they just canned the F22 debacle cosing us 120 billion.
http://gerarddirect.com/2013/03/10/uss-f-35-and-f-22-americas-costly-boondoggles-the-victims-of-arrogance-and-appeasement/
We have spent enough on Iraq, Afghanistan, Blackwater, Halliburton, and associated health care for the wounded vets
to fund ALL college for all Americans, plus we could fix up the roads, bridges, schools, and libraries
It's more like their puppet masters are making lots of money off student loans. That's why they've fixed it so the interest rates are higher and they can't be refinanced. They are like vampires feeding off our youth. There is no way they would allow their pocket politicians to take away their gravy train.
DeleteBTW student loans are probably the next bubble to burst.
Bernie has the heart of this country as his passion....no talking points, just honest long term visions. Living in NJ, even as a single mom, I made too much money for real financial aid. I am not talking Wall Street...I made around $60,000 with a lot of overtime. Both my daughters graduated top of their classes with a lot of cash rewards, which was great freshman year. Rutgers was $400/credit, and FIT in Manhattan meant paying rent for 3 years as one dorm was for freshman only. Needless to say...I used my savings, my pension, then my house in order for them to graduate without the burden of debt. I consider myself lucky to have the ability to do that, of course all the considerable sacrifices have left me with nothing. I loved hearing Obama trying to tackle this issue, now Bernie is really pushing it hard. Of course if my x husband had helped in any way it would have gone along way...he decided girls didn't need college. They are both making huge salaries and taking care of mom, but it shouldn't have been this way..I worked hard to prepare for college and it cost me everything in the end.
ReplyDeleteI attended the Universiyt of California in the early sixties. $50.00 a semester for tuition plus about $50.00 a semester for books. The taxpayers subsidized my education which led to my getting a good job and paying taxes for over fifty years. Why can't my tax money support the next generation's education? Our priorities are all screwed up.
ReplyDeleteWe're putting two through college, Thankfully both have scholarships, One's tuition for a six year specialized medical program costs over 35 grand a year, then she has four years of med school. Bernie's vision makes absolute sense, we need to invest in our kid's future, and few who only have a high school diploma alone find decent paying jobs or careers to raise their families.
ReplyDelete