by Volf ben Yosev

Socialist Democrat Bernie Sanders has proposed legislation that would subsidize free college tuition for children of families making less than $125K.  The children of illegal aliens, called “Dreamers,” would also be covered.  Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) co-sponsored.

Under the plan, “Wall Street” would pick up the tab, by taxing stock, bond, and derivative trades.  Critics say middle class Americans are invested in the market through their retirement plans and would be forced to bear the expense.  Americans currently owe a total of more than $1.7 trillion in student loan debt, 93% of which is federally backed.  Pres. Biden is reported to be looking into ways to forgive existing student loan debt using his presidential powers to forgive $10-50K per student.  It is a Democrat wish list item than rewards the Socialist base of the party, which tends to skew to the young and collegiate.   

The Bernie bill has the Federal Government responsible for 75% of tuition costs to public colleges or trade schools.  States would be obligated to cover the 25% difference, or a 90/10 split in an economic downturn.  Billions would be allocated to schools with large minority populations, which the exception of Jewish schools who are excluded from the largesse.  

Democrat-run cities ran into financial arrears in 2020.  Trump was accused of political retaliation when he refused to bail them out, something Pres. Biden did immediately.  The money was supposed to go to save them from bankruptcy, so it is not clear how their states could afford to pay 25% of multiple college tuitions amid escalating price hikes.  Although Sanders has railed against what he characterizes as corporate greed in the private sector, the bill fails to address the rising costs of public school education.  Under the plan, state schools can continue to raise their prices and just simply overcharge the Government/taxpayer.  In New York and New Jersey, a family with a combined income of 125K is barely keeping their heads above water.  The bill presupposes that their adult children are dependents and denies them student aid on that basis.  

More and more public colleges and universities have become propaganda mills for Sanders’ Socialism, so we would essentially be obligating middle class taxpayers who object to the teachings of Karl Marx to finance an entitled class of professional students and foreign free riders, and indoctrinate them with ideology against our beliefs.  The Democrats would also like to give illegal aliens the right to vote, so they would be essentially stacking the deck in future elections with votes of noncitizens bought with free tuition into schools that teach them to vote Democrat and suppress opposing viewpoint.