In a previous post I discussed Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders' plan for a free tuition for all students who attend public colleges and universities. However, Sanders is only one of many candidates running for president in 2016. Two other well known candidates, Marco Rubio (Rep) and Hilary Clinton (Dem), have their own ideas on how to address problems in higher education. Rubio and Clinton tackle the issues with very different plans and ideas. Clinton's plan focuses on more spending from the federal government while Rubio's plan involves a multitude of bills to address issues that plague higher ed.
As a current student incurring debt for my education, I understand the reason for urgency that all of the politicians running for president have shown towards reducing the cost of higher ed. Hillary Clinton has proposed a $350 billion dollar plan that gives states, ones that choose to opt in, financial incentives to ensure they provide free tuition to students (Bosman & Lewin, 2015). This plan allocates $175 billion towards colleges and universities and theoretically lowers the cost of higher ed. However, states may have the ability to opt out which doesn't help the exploding costs of higher ed in those states or the students in those states. Sanders's plan, however, seeks to make all public colleges and universities tuition-free. Follow this link to see a review of Clinton's plan: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/us/with-350-billion-plan-hillary-clinton-prods-rivals-on-student-debt.html?_r=0
Marco Rubio is a Senator from the state of Florida. He is of Cuban decent and aligns himself with the Republican Party on higher education issues. Rubio does not have 'a' plan like Clinton or Sanders. Rubio's strategy to address the plethora of issues facing higher ed relies on a multitude of components. He has sponsored, co-sponsored or introduced a multitude of bills that address differing issues that face higher ed and students. For example, he has sponsored a bill that would inform students of statistics on each degree to better inform them of what happens in their field in regards to graduation rate and average pay ,and he has introduced a bill that would delay student debt repayment deferred until they are employed instead of when they graduate, along with several others (Cooper, 2015). This strategy is far different and less comprehensive than either Clinton's or Sanders'. Follow this link for a comparison and review of Rubio's and Clinton's plans to see if you buy into Rubio's one-step-at-a-time approach or Hillary's all-in-one approach: http://www.economics21.org/commentary/rubios-higher-ed-plan-beats-clintons
References
Cooper, P. (2015, August 10). Rubio's Higher-Ed Plan Beats Clinton's. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
Bosman, J. & Lewin, T. (2015, August 13). With $350 Billion Plan, Hilary Clinton Prods Rivals on Student Debt. Retrieved November 1, 2015
All of this sounds great..Germany has already made HIED free...... but taxes increased to cover the cost..... How are our current candidates planning to fund free college? Obama already announced his plan to make attending community colleges free, but the funding has been missing.
ReplyDeleteSince upwards of 80% of college/university budgets centers on payroll, how will free tuition happen without massive layoffs? I suppose every institution could increase fundraising, but, again, this relies on the same people providing more and more money....