Bernie Sanders' latest bill would make college tuition free
On Tuesday, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a bill that would overhaul the country's higher education system by making tuition at public four-year colleges and universities free. The proposed legislation, called the College for All Act, would require $70 billion of assistance a year, two-thirds of which would be funded by the federal government through the taxation of Wall Street transactions by investment houses, hedge funds, and other speculators. States would fund the remaining third.
In a recent speech, the senator lamented the fact that 2015 graduates are America's most indebted class yet. "If our economy is to be strong, we need the best educated work force in the world," Sanders said. "That will not happen if every year hundreds of thousands of bright young people cannot afford to go to college and if millions more leave school deeply in debt."
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It's true that the ambitious bill is a bit of a long shot. But to the theme of Sanders' presidential campaign, it raises important questions. Can the government force states to lessen students' burden of college tuition?
