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Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, 2016/Education
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 Bernie Sanders |
U.S. Senator (Assumed office: 2007) U.S. Representative (1991-2007) |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 |
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
| CANDIDATE SUMMARY | |
- On April 21, 2016, the Brookings Institution released an analysis of Sanders’ proposal to make college free, finding that it would disproportionately benefit students from higher income brackets. “Under the Sanders free college proposal, families from the top half of the income distribution would receive 24 percent more in dollar value from eliminating tuition than students from the lower half of the income distribution. The non-tuition costs of attending college, including living expenses, are larger than the costs of tuition and fees for most students. Free college, which does not address these expenses, leaves families from the bottom half of the income distribution with nearly $18 billion in annual out-of-pocket college costs that would not be covered by existing federal, state, and institutional grant programs,” the think tank reported.[2][3]
- At the third Democratic primary debate on December 19, 2015, Bernie Sanders talked about his proposal to provide free college tuition: “It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do? My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street [sic], raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt, refinance their homes at 3 percent.”[4]
- On December 11, 2015, Sanders wrote to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to ask him to support salary increases for City University of New York (CUNY) professors. “As a college degree becomes increasingly important for economic security in our vastly unequal society, CUNY has historically represented the possibility that a college education of the highest quality could be accessible to all. It should continue to represent that possibility. That is why I am troubled by New York State’s refusal so far to invest in a fair contract for the university’s faculty and staff,” Sanders wrote.[5]
- In an op-ed in The Washington Poston October 22, 2015, Sanders advocated for tuition-free public colleges and universities. Sanders wrote, “An important pathway to the middle class now runs through higher education, but rising costs are making it harder and harder for ordinary Americans to get the education they want and need. In 1978, it was possible to earn enough money to pay for a year of college tuition just by working a summer job that paid minimum wage. Today, it would take a minimum wage worker an entire year to earn enough to cover the annual in-state tuition at a public university. And that’s why so many bright young people don’t go to college, don’t finish or graduate deeply in debt.”[6]
- Sanders voted against H.R.1 - the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. It became law on January 8, 2002.[7]
- Sanders voted for H.R.2616 - the Charter School Expansion Act of 1998, which "Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize a State educational agency (SEA) to use funds for planning, designing, and initial implementation of public charter schools." It became law on October 22, 1998.[8]
- Sanders voted against S.1502 - the District of Columbia Student Opportunity Scholarship Act of 1997, which proposed authorizing "the establishment of the District of Columbia Scholarship Corporation as a private, nonprofit corporation to administer, publicize, and evaluate the District of Columbia (District) scholarship program and to determine student and school eligibility for program participation."[9]
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ VPR, "Bernie Sanders Is Streaming His Presidential Announcement On Periscope," April 30, 2015
- ↑ Brookings Institution, "Who would benefit most from free college?" April 21, 2016
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Benefits of Sanders’s College Plan Bigger for Wealthy, Analysis Finds," April 21, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "3rd Democratic debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant," December 19, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Bernie Sanders Urges Cuomo to Raise CUNY Professors’ Pay," December 14, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Make college free for all," October 22, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "H.R.1," accessed April 8, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "H.R.2616," accessed April 8, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.1502," accessed April 8, 2015
