Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-CortezThe unintended consequences of interest rate caps The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump threatens jail time over 'treason' and 'spying' Lewandowski: Why Joe Biden won't make it to the White House — again MORE (D-N.Y.) is applauding billionaire philanthropist Robert F. Smith's surprise decision to pay the tuition and board of Morehouse College's class of 2019, but she warns being liberated from college debt shouldn't depend on "a stranger’s enormous act of charity."
The key, Ocasio-Cortez said after Smith's announcement, is to make college affordable for everyday Americans.
"It’s important to note that people shouldn’t be in a situation where they depend on a stranger’s enormous act of charity for this kind of liberation to begin with (aka college should be affordable), but it is an incredible act of community investment in this system as it is,” Ocasio-Cortez, who before her rise in politics was working as a bartender in New York City, said on Twitter.
It’s important to note that people shouldn’t be in a situation where they depend on a stranger’s enormous act of charity for this kind of liberation to begin with (aka college should be affordable), but it is an incredible act of community investment in this system as it is. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 19, 2019
She also tweeted that the gift could be part of a new "natural experiment" to see how those who benefit from Smith's gift fare and what choices they make compared to their peers.
Smith agreed to pay off the remaining loans of the graduating students at Morehouse, with tuition, room and board at just under $50,000 per year for each student.
Ocasio-Cortez has called for tuition-free public colleges and other programs, as well as for boosting affordability in higher education.
EvitaPuppy on May 20th, 2019 at 15:56 UTC »
And we didn't back in the day. In the 80's, you could take 12 credits at a state school for around $35 per credit (@ the time private school was close to $300). That same school is now over $300 per, and that's a relative bargain now. WTF happened to state school tuition? And this is in a state with high taxes too, so there's plenty of money!
ShaoShaoUnicorn on May 20th, 2019 at 14:52 UTC »
Seriously. We know tuition has gone up by record numbers over the past two decades along with text books and cost of living, and what I don’t understand is how people are arguing about this.
Spindago on May 20th, 2019 at 13:29 UTC »
It's ridiculous that we can't educate our own children without bankrupting them before they even start their jobs.