Overall Thesis Question - How should the U.S. address the issue regarding the rising costs of higher education?
Question for this journal entry - How does Bernie Sanders plan to provide free college?
Source Citation - "Bernie Sanders." Bernie Sanders RSS. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. <https://berniesanders.com/?nosplash=true%2F>
This source outlines Senator Bernie Sanders plans for eliminating college costs. This source is more informative than argumentative, but makes its point clear that Bernie Sanders strongly believes that tuition free college should be in the future of the U.S.. In addition, it offers numerous statistics to support its claims. In summary, Sanders plans to relieve the burden of financing a college education that students across the country are experiencing by eliminating tuition costs, stopping the government from profiting on student loans, cutting loan interest rates, and allowing loan refinancing. He plans to fund this grand endeavor by imposing a tax on Wall Street speculators. He estimates the costs of these plans to be about $75 billion. This plan for restructuring the student loan system has gained Bernie Sanders the support of thousands of young people burdened with enormous student loan debt.
This source really made me think about how Sanders is going to make his promises a reality if he were to be elected president. For me, this source brought about some new ideas. I have heard Sanders promise free college educations for everyone for months now, but this article made me realize that he is only going to offer free tuition. Students will still be required to pay for their textbooks and room and board. This poses a big issue because room and board cost just as much as tuition. I think that this is a big issue for this source as it doesn't come out and say that room and board will not be included in the "free college" promise. There is no way that I am the only person that assumed that room and board would be included in his promise. I had to do additional research to confirm the brief mention of it found in this article. I think that this leads to the claim that this source is biased. It does not provide the whole truth because its purpose is to give enough information to persuade potential voters into supporting Sanders. It describes the positive aspects of his plans without mentioning the down sides. As for his opinions regarding the restructuring of the higher education system. I agree that the government should not profit off of our student loans, interest rates should be cut, and that we should be able to refinance our loans. However, I do not agree with the belief that "free college" is the best path for our country in regards to this issue as there are numerous downsides to making college free. I think that his plan requires further research into the "fine print" in order to get a better grasp of exactly how he plans to fund this endeavor. This source does help me answer the question I posed in this blog post as it allows me to gain a general understanding of his plans. However, it does not cover the specific plans which are a key component of such a promise.
This source has made me ask a few additional research questions. The first being my main question of "What is the "fine print" to his promises?". Secondly, I need to research the question of "Is this financially feasible and reasonable for our government?" I am also interested in researching the fact that only tuition will be covered and how he plans for students to fund expenses such as room and board and textbooks. From this source, I gained a general understanding of his plan, but I have more research to do to find out exactly how it will work.
As mentioned above, a few of my assumptions were proven wrong during my research of this source. I had assumed that "free college" meant free tuition and free room and board. However, it strictly means free tuition. That means that students will still have to come up with enough money to cover living expense which could equal or exceed the cost of tuition. This creates a major issue for underprivileged students and could prevent some students from attending. This prevents Sanders from achieving his goal of making a college degree accessible to everyone because he is essentially only footing half of the bill and leaving a large bill in the hands of the students.
As for my research trajectory, after this I will research the fine print associated with Bernie Sander's promises. I will do so in order to find out how he actually plans to keep his promises. This is valuable because it will be information that is not constantly being thrown at the public in hopes of attracting potential voters. I will then see what questions that the research poses and conduct additional research accordingly.
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