Bernie Sanders had a plan for winning over young voters: free public college. It was one of the cornerstones of his campaign, and alongside Medicare for All, would prove to outlast his two campaigns for the presidency.
In recent years, the push for free public colleges and universities has moved into mainstream politics. Once considered a fringe, pie-in-the-sky idea, numerous Democratic candidates and elected officials have now embraced the movement. Even Hillary Clinton, who initially rejected the idea for free college in her 2016 campaign, came over to the idea and backed a plan for tuition-free college that was reminiscent of Sanders’ plan.
Free college has, as The Atlantic describes it, become “a litmus test for liberals.”
Unsurprisingly, the momentum around free college goes hand-in-hand with the fight for student loan debt relief. According to a report by CNBC, 44 million Americans have student loan debt, to the jarring tune of $1.6 trillion, up from $772 billion in 2009. That’s a 107% increase.
According to the Federal Reserve, “adults under the age of 30 who attended college are more likely to have taken out loans than older adults, consistent with the upward trend in educational borrowing over the past several decades.”
At the same time, college has become more expensive. A study from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) found that tuition has increased by 37% between 2008 and 2018.
“Over the last 20 years, the price of attending a four-year public college or university has grown significantly faster than the median income,” writes the CBPP. “Although federal student aid has risen, on average, it has fallen short of covering the increases in tuition and other college expenses.”
The issues of college affordability and student loan debt are intrinsically tied. As the cost of college tuition continues to rise, so too does the amount of loans students take out in order to pay for college.
Below are some of the groups working to resolve these issues. Some of them are working to make tuition at public colleges and universities free; others are fighting for student loan debt relief. Some advocate for both. But all of them want to make college more financially accessible for everyone.
RISE is a student-led advocacy group dedicated to making all public colleges and universities free. According to its website, RISE trains students to organize on-campus campaigns advocating for not only ending tuition and fees but also encouraging students to vote and expanding financial aid to end student hunger and homelessness.
Among its many accomplishments, RISE has helped make two years of community college free for adults over 25 in Michigan; it has also helped make the second year of community college free in California (it previously helped make the first year free, as well). Additionally, RISE seeks to effect change by helping to elect progressive candidates to office.
Campaign for Free College Tuition
The Campaign for Free College Tuition (CFCT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit coalition of former elected officials, business leaders, policy experts, academics, and millennial groups who seek to make higher education free. CFCT believes that a strong national economy “requires the country to make higher education affordable for everyone if we are going to have a workforce with the skills needed for us to compete in the global marketplace.”
CFCT’s Policy Resource Center offers political leaders advice on funding, building support and drafting legislation for making public colleges tuition-free. Additionally, it also offers resources for candidates about campaigning on a free-college platform and provides examples of candidates who have run—and won—on similar campaigns.
Student Debt Crisis (SDC) is a nonprofit organization that describes itself as a “people-powered movement to end student debt.” SDC has both short-term and long-term approaches to accomplish this goal. In the short term, it works with borrowers and helps them navigate the loan repayment system while offering resources to help them manage their debt.
In the long term, SDC works to bring about student loan reform through advocacy and lobbying. Its members have published numerous op-eds and have appeared on CNN and MSNBC in order to push out their message.
SDC states on its website: “At the heart of our work is the conviction that we can no longer burden students with the ever-increasing costs of higher education.”
Higher Ed, Not Debt is a campaign founded by Generation Progress, a nonprofit advocacy and education group that focuses on progressive solutions to the issues that matter most to young people. Both are housed within the Center for American Progress. Among the issues they focus on is student debt. Higher Ed, Not Debt’s vision is “to ensure that quality higher education is affordable and accessible to all, without the burden of financial hardship.” Partners of the campaign include the ACLU, AFL-CIO, Alliance for a Just Society, Consumers Union, the Center for Responsible Lending, SEIU, and Public Citizen, among many others.
Higher Ed, Not Debt works to support borrowers currently paying off debt, address the root causes of declining college affordability, educate the public about Wall Street’s role in creating the student debt crisis and promote civic engagement.
Justice Democrats is a political action committee that seeks to elect progressive democrats into office. Its platform consists of numerous progressive campaigns, including canceling student debt and making public colleges and trade schools free.
Justice Democrats believes that both issues are issues of class justice. Canceling student loan debt, Justice Democrats argues, will help close the racial and class gaps in higher education. Furthermore, it argues that the increasingly high cost of education has put college out of reach for lower-income students. Making college free will help close the equity gap in higher education.
Justice Democrats supports candidates—both challengers and incumbents—who share similar policy goals. Politicians include Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Pramila Jayapal.
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With the election now over, attention is turning toward the upcoming administration’s policy plans.
President-elect Joe Biden has released a comprehensive plan for making higher education more affordable. According to CNBC, education tends not to be a top priority for incoming presidents. However, Biden may prove to be different, given that his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, has a doctorate in education from the University of Delaware and was a professor at North Virginia Community College.
Biden’s plans include making community colleges and workforce training programs tuition-free, and eliminating tuition for students attending four-year public universities and whose families earn less than $125,000 a year.
With respect to student debt, Biden has said his administration will push for student loan debt relief, though not outright debt cancellation as progressive politicians like Sanders have proposed. Biden’s plan includes forgiving $10,000 in student debt for all borrowers as coronavirus aid relief. He has also said he would cancel undergraduate student debt for students who attended a public historically black college or university and earn a maximum of $125,000.
Additionally, individuals who make $25,000 or less will not owe payments on their student loans, nor will they accrue any interest. Those earning more than $25,000 will pay 5% of their discretionary income toward their loans. After 20 years, the remaining debt for those who have “responsibly made payments” will be forgiven.
Though not the agenda progressives wanted, Biden’s positions signal a shift left to more affordable and equitable higher education. Groups like RISE are celebrating Biden’s win, calling it “the first step toward free college.”
