MDCC students: I'm voting for Bernie because I want free college!

[lunamagica]

Our local Univision station interviewed students who had attended the debate last night.

One after another they enthusiastically said the wanted Bernie because he'd give THEM free college. I mean these kids are in college now, yet they expect that once he becomes president, free college will be a reality so soon that they will benefit.

It's really sad that college level students can be so ignorant about how government works. They buy all the goodies Sanders is selling without question.

A real Pied Piper...

[William769]

1. Just goes to show intelligence. nt

[George II]

2. More like a political Elmer Gantry.

[shenmue]

3. Dingdingding

[Agnosticsherbet]

4. This is an indictment of our K-12 education.

Even if we elected a US congress that would pass the bill on day 2 of a Sanders Administration (which would be impossible since it takes longer than that to write a bill) it would take years to implement. Such a bill would be every bit as large as the ACA and it took six years to implement.

Then there is the problem of explaining why free isn't really free. Everyone, including these intrepid college students would have to pay the tax bill. (There is plenty of evidence showing that Sanders plan to tax wall street will not provide sufficient funds.

In spite of what Sanders says, those young followers do not serve in Congress and they are not going to have much impact on legislation.

[Surya Gayatri]

5. Easy sell...

[BlueCaliDem]

18. SPOT. ON.

And I've been saying this FOR MONTHS.

[giftedgirl77]

6. Jajaja, don't you know that congress is just going to fall & line

& give BS everything he has pledged. Hell look at the meltdown supposed politically savvy ppl had when Obama didn't shutdown GITMO the day he came into office, but they think BS is going to get all of his promises passed. I don't understand how a guy that has been in politics most of his adult life can spew such bullshit with a straight face.

[yallerdawg]

7. I like Hillary's plan better - and it is doable!

Clinton’s plan breaks down the barriers to obtaining a degree by establishing the New College Compact. The New College Compact ensures that students can attend a 4-year public college without taking loans for tuition, attend community college tuition-free, pushes states to re-invest and schools to reduce costs and raise graduation rates, and rewards innovation that makes a real difference in student outcomes.

The plan at: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/factsheets/2015/08/10/college-compact-costs/

[SunSeeker]

13. Hillary's plan is the only plan that makes sense.

Aside from the difficulty, to just make state colleges free without strings or ability to pay determination means my hard earned taxes could be paying for rich kids spending a decade partying at UC Santa Barbara. I remember there being a lot of "career students" when I was in college at a state university (when tuition was a lot cheaper). Their m.o. was picking "fun" majors that would not get them jobs, and partying their asses off. I do not want to pay for that silliness.

[SharonClark]

24. Agree

[Thinkingabout]

8. I just wonder if college is going to be free then what about the people who choose to enter into

education, those who work in the college system will probably loose their ability to earn a living teaching in a free facility.

[BlueCaliDem]

20. That's the other side of the coin people don't tend to look at: income for professors

and faculty.

I mean, like Ed Rendall said to Andrea Mitchell this morning (and she claims she didn't know what song he was referring to and that it was "before her time" - lol. Right.), it's like the Dire Straits' song:

Money for Nothing.

[postatomic]

21. Good point

There is a public high school in the county south of me. Recently the students staged a walkout and protest.

The strange bitz? They were protesting the high turn over rate among teachers. The school just couldn't retain good teachers that eventually found that the pastures were greener in the private schools.

Who would teach in a 'free' college?

Of course reality shit like this gets ignored. It's FREE baby!!! FREE!!!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. My vote is not for me..

but for my children and grandchildren.

[lunamagica]

11. That's not what they said...

[HillareeeHillaraah]

17. If college was free a lot fewer people would sign up for military service...

...could it backfire and necessitate bring back the draft?

Who knows the unintended consequences?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

19. enlisted military eligible for food stamps

If they raised the pay alot more would consider joining. My oldest joined for many reasons, one of which was help for college. My other two refused, "even college is not worth being sent to fight an illegal and immoral war" I'm so proud of all three of them!

[LisaM]

10. Does Senator Sanders realize that our colleges are at a near crisis-level for faculty?

The system with teaching adjuncts is almost untenable. Colleges and universities are adding layers and layers of administration, trying to strip tenure, and relying more and more on adjunct professors who are wildly underpaid, not able to get on a tenure track, or a track for full professorship, and who sometimes don't know that they are going to teach a class until a few days ahead of time. Some live in their cars. Some need to work for multiple employers just to make ends meet. IMHO, this needs to be addressed first, before we flood public universities with every college graduate in the country.

Might I add that I think a better solution is to create more vocational schools, especially those with viable two-year degrees? I think he's going after the wrong end of the equation. Create institutions (or fund community colleges) with the ability to provide degrees in things like installing clean energy components like solar panels, make it very easy to become an electrician or plumber (the jobs that are never going to go away, and that need people to fill them), etc.

[Yavin4]

12. Sanders has been pandering since day one.

When you make promises that you cannot keep and rely on funding that is not there, then you are lying to your supporters, and that is PANDERING.

Even if there were no Wall Street, no billionaires, no Republicans, his plans would not win a consensus of the American public esp. when they see the increases in taxes and fees.

For example, large pension funds would have to pay his Wall Street transactions tax whenever they sell or buy securities. That tax would be passed on retirees. Now, are retired teachers, fire fighters, union workers, etc. going to be happy paying for a kid's college education and taking in less retirement money?

[LisaM]

14. And that's what Rick Snyder did in Michigan, BTW

Taxed retirees' pensions.

[FloridaBlues]

15. It makes it hard to campaign against free everything !!

This bs from his mouth is getting rather annoying !

[HillareeeHillaraah]

16. Do they know it's not going to be retroactive? n/t

[Stuckinthebush]

22. Clueless kids

About sums it up.

[Rose Siding]

23. They don't realize that if he were prez they'd have to drop out.

They'll be expected to camp outside McConnell's window for important votes. I don't think anyone's considered that when "millions" rise up to do that the other side may respond with their own numbers. Or maybe just some provocateurs, maybe even elements from foreign interests.

Do you suppose Sanders has considered how much to budget for National Guard support in such instances? The DC police will be quickly overwhelmed by the numbers I'd imagine.

Will they all be moving to DC once they drop out or just camping out somewhere? So many questions.

It's so fantastical. I blame him more than them. His freebies are framed to appeal to those most desirous of instant gratification. Wish I had a Hillary vote for every time I've heard some 19 yr old bemoan how he's waited long enough. At nineteen.

The pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain that effects judgement and impulse control, doesn't fully develop until the mid twenties, so there's that. Not that some kids aren't able to make good, informed choices. Maybe some even want the nomadic life to be had in a Sanders America. I'm just not convinced their candidate has explained it to them well enough.