Political Update: Sanders’ “College for All”

Since the announcing his presidential campaign, Bernie Sanders has stuck to one promise, free education at all.

“If the United States is going to compete successfully in the global economy, we need to have the best educated workforce in the world” says Sanders.

Sanders would like to amend the higher education act, adding programs that would lower interest rates on student loans, increase work study programs and simplify the student aid process. All of which would be funded by imposing a Wall Street speculation fee on investment houses, hedge funds, and stock trades. However, would free education help the U.S. live up to Sanders’ idea of “the most educated workforce in the world”?

Mike Thompson, Associate Criminal Justice Professor at the University of Sioux Falls says, “It would be nearly impossible to implement, and financially, I think the University of Sioux Falls would suffer if all the state schools were free.”

Zach Brown, a sophomore student at USF, says, “Instituting a policy like that would allow a larger demographic to obtain a higher education. Allowing something like that looking at our education trends, when we have more educated people we have more economic development.”

Thompson closes his statement by saying, “I think the federal government has a larger involvement through financial aid. I don’t think the fact of it being free would really motivate a lot of people to go to college.”

Written by Amy Elston & Whitney Fryer