Bernie Sanders Just Introduced His Free College Tuition Plan [View all]

[Hassin Bin Sober]

Last edited Tue Apr 4, 2017, 01:21 AM - Edit history (1)

Bernie Sanders Just Introduced His Free College Tuition Plan

Joining with Elizabeth Warren, Sanders wants students to organize around the legislation.

https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-just-introduced-his-free-college-tuition-plan/

President Donald Trump doesn’t appear willing nor interested in addressing astronomical student debt levels, which long since crested above $1 trillion. In fact, his administration has made it easier for for-profit colleges to rip off students, and recently scrapped Obama-era regulations that limited rates loan guarantee agencies can charge people who defaulted on student loans. His budget also proposed cutting $5 billion in higher education funding for low-income Americans. Perhaps that’s not surprising from a president who just finalized a $25 million settlement stemming from his scam for-profit university.

That’s a financial tragedy for the millions who hold student loan debt and the students who will matriculate while Trump is president. But Trump’s unwillingness to even motion towards a student debt plan creates a massive political opening for Democrats.

Senator Bernie Sanders stepped into that breach Monday afternoon, introducing a bill with Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representatives Keith Ellison, and several other members of Congress. The ‘College For All’ Act which aims to eliminate college tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities for students from families that make up to $125,000 per year. The bill would make community college tuition-free for all income levels.

Bernie is still fighting for an idea he proposed and fought for in 2015

http://college.usatoday.com/2015/05/19/bernie-sanders-issues-bill-to-make-4-year-colleges-tuition-free/

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Bernie Sanders issues bill to make 4-year colleges tuition-free

By Ethan Stoetzer,Michael Schramm, University of Michigan 11:47 am EDT May 19, 2015

Senator Bernie Sanders has officially introduced a bill that would eliminate undergraduate tuition. 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.

To qualify for the federal government grants, the states would also have to meet a variety of requirements. Some of these requirements include ensuring universities maintain or increase expenditures on students each year, maintaining or increasing operation expenditures each year and guaranteeing that after 5 years on this program, at least 75% of instruction is taught by tenured or tenure-track professors.