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Writer's pictureColleen LaVigne: Opinion

Make tuition free at public colleges and universities


This is not a radical idea. Last year, Germany eliminated tuition because they believed that charging students $1,300 per year was discouraging Germans from going to college. Next year, Chile will do the same. Finland, Norway, Sweden and many other countries around the world also offer free college to all of their citizens. If other countries can take this action, so can the United States of America.


Talking points and anticipated counterpoints Here is your answer to "How do you pay for it": How Bernie pays for his proposals. Please do not let them keep pretending we are dreaming when it comes to funding, we have the money, we just have to spend it correctly. Fully paid for by imposing a tax on Wall Street speculators. The cost of this $75 billion a year plan is fully paid for by imposing a tax of a fraction of a percent on Wall Street speculators who nearly destroyed the economy seven years ago. More than 1,000 economists have endorsed a tax on Wall Street speculation and today some 40 countries throughout the world have imposed a similar tax including Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland, and China. If the taxpayers of this country could bailout Wall Street in 2008, we can make public colleges and universities tuition free and debt free throughout the country.


What can I do to help? Ensure your current representatives are aligned to this solution. If they aren't, make sure they know they are at odds with the community:

  • Call their office

  • Collect signatures to appeal your position if they disagree

  • If they refuse to represent you, find someone else who can and primary them


 
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