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29 votes, 2 passes | Time left: Poll closed
	Support it
	23 (79%)
	Oppose it
	6 (21%)
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[Turin_C3PO]

1. Either free

Or DRASTICALLY lower tuition.

[TheBlackAdder]

23. Gotta do something to remain competitive in a Global Economy when competing countries do it.

[rampartc]

2. nothing is free, but the student debt is oppressive

i think the opportunity should be there to trade college for national service.

[WheelWalker]

3. TANSTAAFL

[handmade34]

51. I am hoping that

people are smart enough when they say 'free' they understand that means not out of pocket but through taxation

misnomers can be very confusing

[mcar]

4. I'm not in favor of my tax dollars paying for Bill Gates kids college

I support free community college, a complete overhaul of the student loan system and lower tuition in state colleges.

[NurseJackie]

8. Your thoughts mirror mine.

[mcar]

10. It was HRC's position too

so we are in good company.

[zipplewrath]

27. Harvard won't be free

You won't have to worry about paying for Gates children, they'll be going to some private school.
Did you go to a Land Grant college? I did.
Did you go to a public school? I did, no one asked how much my parents made.

[mcar]

32. Plenty of well off families send their kids to public colleges

I live in FL. UF is Mecca to Floridians who can well afford to send their kids to private schools. These rich jerks have made this state nearly unliveable over the last several decades thanks to their obsession with lowering taxes. Now I'm expected to have my tax dollars pay for their kid to scream "Go Gators" all over the place? No thanks.

FWIW, I attended a private Jesuit college in my hometown, back in the days when college was affordable (graduated 1980). I lived at home, worked part time and took the city bus to my classes. My parents covered my tuition, I paid for books and other expenses.

[zipplewrath]

34. UC used to be free

Brooklyn college too. It's been done before. It's the anti-tax crowd that killed it.
The Florida situation is interesting. Between Bright Futures and Pre-paid, tons of kids that used to leave the state to go to college, now stay in state. As such, it's gotten very hard to get into UF, even by legacies. So the thing that is killing things here is all of this state funded college education.

[mcar]

35. It has gotten harder to get into UF

The legislature has bastardized Bright Futures so that it's now a "lottery" program. Not every student who earns it gets it.

I remember when CA schools were free.

I think that community colleges are one of the best things we've got going for us. They offer chances for kids who can't afford or didn't have the grades to get into a 4 year school. Making them free for kids who meet the requirements will help more students gain higher education or get a trade certification.

[zipplewrath]

37. 4 year institutions should offer "trades"

Nothing wrong with an educated plumber.
My school had a program to become an certified FAA aircraft mechanic. 4 year program and you took many of the same general course work that all the other freshmen took.

[MarcA]

42. Also, Classical Liberal Arts in Jeffersonian Tradition - the love of all Knowledge n/t

[mcar]

43. Yes to both!

[Recursion]

36. Harvard has made itself free for students from families making less than $150K

So, I mean, yeah

[mcar]

44. All the Ivies have done this

[Freddie]

29. 100% agree

Free community college or trade school (not ripoff for-profit “schools”) and greatly reduced tuition at state schools.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

31. Ridiculous argument. The wealthy will always send their kids to elite private schools.

Just like they do now when free public grade school and high school is currently available to the wealthy.


And for the few that might send their kids to a public school, I say more power to them. Get the kids out of the bubble and rub elbows with us commoners. Maybe they will meet some kids working their way through college or single mothers trying to get a degree with no help.

[mcar]

33. See my post #32

My argument is not ridiculous, but thanks for the insult.

[brooklynite]

46. Howard Dean: "Bill Gates deserves free health care"

His theory is: if EVERYONE benefits from a support program, it can't get framed as "welfare".

[mcar]

48. I take his point

But since there's no such thing as free health care, or free college, the framing just doesn't work.

Universal healthcare. Universal Pre-K, Universal climate policies, Universal community college, etc.

[Freethinker65]

5. Labeling anything like this "free" will open the Democrats to ridicule from the GOP

Last edited Thu Apr 4, 2019, 04:06 PM - Edit history (1)

Healthcare/health insurance/Medicare is not "free". College tuition will never be "free".

Explain a more equitable way to finance these, and many other programs, and I will most likely be for them.

[mr_lebowski]

14. It's still a rather non-strategic nomenclature, as is 'Medicare-For-All'

Yes they'll complain either way, but it's dumb to give them an obvious opening.

People like 'reform' ... call it something like 'Student Loan Reform', and/or 'Tuition Reform' ... and then make clear what it is we mean: fed/state money going to better subsidize higher education (like it did in our Parent's day), taking it from primarily our bloated military budget and slightly higher taxes on the 1%.

[Freethinker65]

21. +1

[mr_lebowski]

26. No, because I'm not asking for 'free' and it never could be 'free' so it's a dumb rallying cry

I'm for 'increasing taxpayer subsidies to levels similar to past generations, in order to lower student's costs to reasonable levels' ... which is quite different.

Call it 'return to fairly-priced state colleges/universities'

[Freethinker65]

20. But in this case, the GOP is correct.

And we will waste time explaining how our "free" program(s) will be funded....which throws us off message of the benefits of more equitable funding of such programs.

[pangaia]

15. Agree.....

taxes DUH !!

[Peacetrain]

7. Lower the tuition's (not free) so that people can work part time and still pay off their

college costs as they go along... Reagan took away the grants colleges got.. When we were young in the late 60's and early 70's our tuition was just a little over 100.00 dollars a quarter at the University of Minnesota (yes we had quarters then)..It is in the country's interest to invest in our people.. not everyone needs four year schools... and we do not really do apprentice programs anymore.. Community Colleges have taken that over.. so 100.00 now probably would be more like 4 or 5 hundred dollars.. but we were able to pay it off as we went.. made 1.65 an hour.. we did not have the same needs for cars internet cable computers cell phones.. how we relate to one another has completely changed and those have to be considered in our pay rates.. the minimum wage needs to reflect those needs.. but again.. the republicans were so jealous that the average person was getting an education that the cut the life line of grants to colleges, and predatory schools popped up to take advantage of people who got loans..

[WA-03 Democrat]

9. Agree...add trade schools to for folks who don't want college like in Germany

[Demsrule86]

40. There is no money in trade these days.

[mr_lebowski]

17. As late as the early 90's I was paying $325/quarter in tuition at a Cal State college ...

In 89-90 I had my own, really nice studio apt in off-campus student housing that was literally a block from campus ... and my rent was $450/month. I'm sure it was subsidized in some way, as obviously the school was.

Presently you'd have a hard time buying a 500 sq ft. shack on a 750 sq. ft lot in this same town for under $250K. And tuition is probably like $3-4K/quarter at least.

[genxlib]

11. It isn't necessary to be free to be fair

Lower the baseline cost to a quarter or third of what it is now. Then further lower it further for those in real need.

I have never been a big fan of free because it prevents people from being motivated to actually understand and extract the appropriate value out of the process.

I am also not a fan of free health care either. I think it helps to have people responsible for a reasonable co-pay.

In full disclosure, I have a daughter headed to college next year and it will likely cost me an small fortune. I would certainly benefit from free but I am still not an advocate.

[pangaia]

13. neither would be 'free' to begin with. TAXES ......

but I get your point... and do not necessarily disagree....

[pangaia]

12. I really am tired of hearing the phrase. "FREE" college for all. or....

FREE health care. or FREE anything. It is misleading and not truthful.

WE should be telling the truth.

Also, concerning the REAL reasons for the problem with college expenses.
THAT should be right at the top of any discussion about college costs... It is freakin' blackmail..

[LisaM]

16. Nothing is free.

I do think we need to seriously evaluate where we lost our path and definitely restore affordability. Make Community College free, and make transfer to atate universities more widely available to people within that state. Cut the administrative bloat. Lower tuition, and cut out some of the fancy meal plans and other amenities. We had perfectly adequate food service with multiple choices at every meal, but I have been to college cafeterias fairly recently and they are over the top. I counted 31 choices at the cafeteria I visited with my friend's son and other campuses are the same!

I do think it's highly overpriced and we need to fix it.

[BlueFlorida]

18. Free college for all is a stupid idea

There has to be means testing and merit testing.

There is no point in giving free college to a billionaire's kids or to someone who gets solid D's in high school.

[Hoyt]

19. After looking recently at what it costs today to go where I went in late 60s, I don't see how people

afford it, unless quite wealthy.

At least the school is still pretty good as far graduates getting salaries where one can pay off loans, but still . . . . . .

It appears that most states offer grants, etc., that help reduce the costs, but still . . . . . .

Not against "free" college, but I do worry that we keep using the same proposed future tax increases to pay for education, healthcare, shoring up Social Security and safety net, climate change, infrastructure, deficit/debt reduction, housing, jobs, etc. I don't think it is reasonable to talk about one particular need -- be it education or healthcare or whatever -- without considering all the other needs that future tax increases will have to cover.

[Demsrule86]

24. Free college without income limits is a disaster... community college can be be free in fact some

states have done so...let's address student debt. I don't think there is enough support for this either.

[Maxheader]

25. If they can pass the entrance exams...ok...

[mr_lebowski]

28. That is a given ... I got into it w/a RWNJ who insisted 'free college'

meant that EVERYONE got to go to whatever college they wanted, no more 'qualifications', and was arguing to the end that THIS is was 'the liberals meant' when they said 'free college for all'.

They literally have been told this nonsense, and believe it ...

[Demsrule86]

39. And with some shitty schools in poor neighborhoods who do you think will pass the tests? You will

have poor people paying for the well to do to go to college. This is what happened in Georgia.

[PETRUS]

30. The social benefits of treating education (knowledge) as a public good seem obvious to me. nt

[marylandblue]

41. Not everyone is cut out to be a academic.

I'm in favor of two years of free or low cost community college or trade school.

I don't have a problem with the word "free." I went to free public school. Nobody thought that meant taxes weren't paying. Everybody knows that's where your local tax dollars go, in fact many people are perfectly willing to pay higher taxes so their kids can get this "free" education.

The "how will you pay for it" discussion has to change to, "is it worth the cost?"

[DaGimpster]

45. I would favor it with a couple caveats right off the top of my head....

1.) Other posters have said this, but associates degrees without a doubt. So many high schoolers aren't ready for the full college experience too, and my kid being one of those I'm not afraid to admit! I know so many young men/women who didn't make it through, and are on the hook for a lot of money anyway.

2.) I would want to see a plan to make sure the trades are represented as viable options vs. pipeline kids to 4 year colleges.

Full disclosure: My daughter is currently in an auto mechanics associate degree program thats subsidized by a car dealer. You work 9 weeks, you school 9 weeks. Seems like a square deal.

Just handing over money to the system as it stands, I'm not sure I could support that. I'd like to see more transparency on where the money is going and what the outcomes were for those students.

[brooklynite]

47. "Free College for All" implies that there is college for all...

There aren't enough seats in Colleges and Universities for "all" to attend.

[Recursion]

49. Exactly

And obviously the wage premium stops applying ice everybody has a bachelors degree. Honestly we're seeing that already.

[DaGimpster]

50. That's been the case in tech (where I work) for a while now.