The pending “infrastructure” spending bill being hailed as bipartisan was crafted by Bernie Sanders.  Among other redistributive entitlement programs, it offers free community college tuition to all comers.  Once thought a Bernie Sanders pipe dream scoffed at by both sides of the aisle, it’s now coming true.  Let’s take a closer look, shall we?  There is no demand for graduates with an Associate’s Degree. 

Community College is typically a stepping stone to university, so it does nothing to cure the problems of rising tuition costs and student debt.  There are no jobs waiting for these students when they graduate.  Community colleges are already taxpayer-supported and relatively low cost.  The plan may inadvertently hurt the academic careers of participating students if they are incentivized to pursue a community college education in leu of a good school that they have to pay for.  The price tag on this line item is 109B.  The irony is that our tax dollars go to fund the good schools, too, through the Department of Education, and no apparent attempt was made to control their price hikes. 

It’s fair to say that the cycle of student loan debt and promises of debt forgiveness played an important role in turning college students onto Socialism, Bernie’s core audience skewing younger.  Recall, the Jews were historically banished in Europe in order to “cancel debt.” 

Sources: Maria Bartolomeo, Fox News, CNBC, Inside highered.com