Tuition-Free New York?
Today, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) proposed making all New York State colleges and universities tuition-free, in a move that could set a very strong precedent for 2017.
If it passes into law, the for-profit college game would take a massive blow, and it could set up other progressive states like CA — which holds more people than any other state, as well as the nation’s largest economy — to follow suit and begin a domino-effect not unlike those we saw with the issues of gay rights, marijuana legalization, and the fight for $15.
It makes obvious sense that Bernie Sanders would join Cuomo in proposing the move, as Sanders, more consistently than anybody else, has been calling for tuition-free universities for years. The benefits of tuition-free universities are so clear, its painful more of our leaders haven’t yet jumped on board. Many believe Bernie’s 2016 campaign gave the proposal, along with many others in his platform, the push it needed to reach the ballot in 2017 and 2018. Today’s announcement is the first evidence of that.
For nearly two years, Sanders campaigned on the idea that the costs of higher education have become nothing short of predatory through federal and private loans. Rising costs have gone largely unchecked in the public arena, thanks to ignorance around borrowing, and the easy loan-approval process for students. Millennials like myself were raised to rightly believe that the need for a college degree was paramount, now more than ever before. (Some compare a Bachelor’s degree in 2015 to a high school diploma in 1985.) What we failed to learn was how increasingly consequential student-loan borrowing turns out to be, and many have begun questioning the value of a degree, compared to the cost.
With student loan interest rates consistently higher than those of auto loans, and almost universally double those of mortgage rates, it is shameful that private lenders place such a heavy burden on a demographic just getting its feet under them. 2016 marked, for the first time in history, the point at which student loan debt surpassed credit card debt, becoming the heaviest debt-burden facing the American public. It is an absolute crisis facing Americans and must be addressed if we want to maintain a competitive and intelligent workforce.
More on the issue of “College Affordability” later.
