Free Republic

In an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow Wednesday, Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders gave a shout out to the University of Texas for its recent announcement promising free tuition to University of Texas at Austin students whose annual household income is less than $65,000. Sanders joined Maddow on her show to discuss the 2020 race as well as the spread of his progressive policy ideas among his fellow candidates and across the country... The goal of this new plan by the UT Board of Regents is to make higher education more accessible for middle and low-income students. In-state undergraduate...

Multiple lawsuits have been filed for more than $500 billion against elite universities and those implicated in the college admissions scandal that helped wealthy Americans cheat their children's way into school. Two Stanford students filed a $5 million class action suit on Wednesday claiming they were denied opportunities to get admitted to Yale and USC and have now had their degrees devalued in the wake of the recent charges.

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz may be able to avoid a 50-state scramble for presidential ballot access by seeking the Libertarian Party’s support. Members of the large national third party, which took more than 3 percent of the vote in 2016, are intrigued by Schultz and might be willing to give him the party nomination in 2020, meaning he would not have to gather hundreds of thousands of signatures as an independent. Schultz has branded himself a “centrist independent” as he teases a potential challenge to President Trump. But he has Libertarians swooning over his concern about the national debt...

Free college tuition is “a great goal except it’s really expensive,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said at a town hall meeting in Fulton, Mo. last week. “We can’t just start having the government pay for everything.” “We owe a lot of debt,” McCaskill also said. “And if we’re not careful, we’re going to get so far under that we could be Greece.” “Free college tuition is a great goal except it’s really expensive. It’s really expensive and we are struggling with how we’re going to pay for what we have in place right now in terms of Medicare,” McCaskill said....

The state of New York now has "free" college tuition at New York state colleges and universities, that is, "free" for its students, primarily at the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) schools and includes two-year community colleges and four-year universities. Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo reached a deal with the state legislature and made the announcement this past week and the plan initially covers families that earn up to $100,000 in income this year (increasing over three years to cover families earning up to $125,000). The governor's office claimed that within the three...

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders asked President Trump’s education secretary candidate, Betsy DeVos, whether she would have got the job if her family had not donated $200m to the Republican party. Sanders’ demeaning question was followed with questions promoting his “free college” initiative. “My question is, and I don’t want to be rude, but do you think if you were not a multi-billionaire, if your family had not made hundreds of millions of dollars of contributions to the Republican party that you would be sitting here today?” “Senator, as a matter of fact, I do think there would be that possibility....

Where exactly do you fall on the political spectrum Secretary Clinton? Stalwart Progressive, as you told us last July? “I take a backseat to no one when you look at my record in standing up and fighting for progressive values.” A Centrist like your dear husband, as you told us last month: “You know, I get accused of being kind of moderate and center. I plead guilty.” Butt really, what difference, at this point, does it make? Especially since your opponent is a xenophobic, Islamophobic sexist pig.  *cough* *cough*I mean, Hillary could be a Marxist and apparently many former Republicans...

Monday, May 02, 2016 Taxpayer-funded financial aid for immigrant college tuition heads to IL House SPRINGFIELD - Two Republican state senators - Christine Radogno and Chris Nybo - crossed the aisle last week to support the Democrats' effort to provide taxpayer-funded financial assistance for undocumented immigrant students. The measure would add Illinois to the five states that grant immigrant students financial aid for college education regardless of their legal status. Already, Illinois is one of 18 states that allows any status immigrants to qualify for lower in-state tuition and set up private college funds. SB 2196 easily passed the Illinois...

In 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes became the first president to make a strong case for universally available public education. “Universal suffrage should rest upon universal education,” he said in his inaugural address, adding that “liberal and permanent provision should be made for the support of free schools.” Hayes, a Republican, didn’t worry that some poor kid might benefit from access to “free stuff,” nor did he believe that the children of wealthy elites should be excluded from the universal nature of the program. For him, education was the basis for full economic and political participation, and full participation was the...

CNN asked millennial voters from a range of backgrounds to weigh in on whether, and how well, the 2016 presidential candidates are reflecting the priorities of their generation — the largest and most diverse demographic cohort in American history — as they make their case to voters. The opinions expressed are solely those of the authors. Elizabeth Elizalde, 22, is a New York-based journalist and a former CNN en Español intern. Follow her on Twitter @EElizalde5. I’m a 22-year-old Latina living in New York City, and as a recent college graduate, I know the struggle of making ends meet. My...

Democrats have long called for grammar school to be “free” (that is, taxpayer-funded)… and they’ve long called for high school to be “free” (yes, even more taxpayer-funded)… and now the Democrats are calling for college – or at least the first two years of it – to be free as well. The proposal can – and should – be shot down with a single point: The United States is, by any measure of the term, bankrupt. We have gone from 7 trillion dollars in debt to 15 trillion in just six years, more than doubling a national debt that had...

Entitlements: President Obama's working feverishly with Senate Democrats to build political pressure to force taxpayers to pay for mounting student debt with loan forgiveness schemes. Hold on to your wallets. This week, Obama signed an executive order capping the payments that millions of student borrowers make on their school debt at 10% of their income, no matter how much they owe. After 10 years, their debts are entirely forgiven if they work for the government or a nonprofit. The plan would cost more than $7 billion in the first year alone. And later this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid...

<p>PHILOMATH, Ore. -- Since the early 1960s, a foundation created by a wealthy couple named Rex and Ethel Clemens has fulfilled an extraordinary promise: college scholarships for any Philomath High School graduate who resides in this faded logging town.</p> <p>The promise has broadened the horizons of Philomath's sons and daughters, helping to lift the local college-attendance rate, from next to nothing to about 69%. Over the years, the foundation has paid $15.5 million in tuition. Right now, 520 students are on its rolls.</p>