Based upon what I have seen and heard during the last Presidential election, Bernie Sanders has emerged as my favorite political leader, whereas the newly-elected President Donald Trump fills me with shame and abhorrence to be a young college student. My opinion about these two men surrounds one issue: tuition-free four-year colleges and their unique stances on this significant issue.
During the campaign trail, at rallies and lectures across the US, a big part of Senator Sanders’s appeal to younger voters was his promise to make four-year colleges tuition-free. According to Schramm & Stoetzer (2015), Sanders introduced a Congressional Bill called the “College for All Act”, which would cut out the $70 billion tuition cost at four-year universities and colleges. Moreover, the bill would be paid for by 2/3 federal tax dollars, and 1/3 state taxes (Schramm & Stoetzer, 2009). Sanders appealed to me because I am a student who cannot afford the high cost of college, and I must rely on student loans for tuition costs. Not only has Sanders actually introduced a bill in Congress, but he nearly became the Presidential nominee – largely due to this stance. His fervor appealed to my hope, and I felt let down when he was not chosen by the Democratic National Committee.
On the other hand, I never heard President Trump state one word about college – much less free tuition for all students. In fact, I was informed by many news outlets that his Trump University was being sued by several of its graduates. However, my research has not revealed that Trump had or has a plan to make college tuition-free for students at four-year universities. Instead, according to Deruy (2017), Trump wants to focus on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US. In fact, Deruy (2017) points out that states, such as New York, are taking the lead in trying to make four-year colleges free for families with incomes of $125,000 or less. To me, it is saddening that large states must prioritize this issue, while President Trump focuses on less-important issues, such as a wall in Mexico. I discovered this fact after doing my research, and feel that it is very much in line with everything President Trump is trying to do to our country – move it back to the 1950s.
References
Deruy, E. (03 Jan. 2017). The free-college dream didn’t end with Trump’s election. The
Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/01/the-
free-college-dream-didnt-end-with-trumps-election/512084
Schramm, M., & Stoetzer, E. (19 May 2015). Bernie Sanders issues bill to make four-year
colleges tuition-free. USA Today College. Retrieved from
tuition-free/
