Hillary Says Every Student Should Graduate Debt-Free

Alan: I know a hardworking 50 year old grandmother -- a Navy veteran -- who is still saddled with student debt undertaken as a teenager. Lamentably, most "established" Americans just don't "feel right" unless "n'er-do-wells" are being punished. The punitive nature of their Christian beliefs infuses "the successful" with the conviction that anyone who "works hard" and "accepts personal responsibility" will achieve financial success. The United States Is A Singularly Cruel, Vengeful Nation. Solitary Confinement For Kids http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/america-is-singularly-cruel-vengeful.html "Inferno: An Anatomy Of American Punishment." The Linchpin Of Our "National Religion" http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/05/inferno-anatomy-of-american-punishment.html Clinton’s campaign says every student should graduate debt-free

American students would be able to graduate from college without owing a dime, if Hillary Rodham Clinton and her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination get their way. "What voters are looking for is someone to be a champion for everyday people. For young people, that's debt-free college," Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, said on Wednesday. As Sahil Kapur reports for Bloomberg, that statement follows months of work by activists and endorsements of the idea by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont who is challenging Clinton, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who many expect will join the race. Their plan would help a relatively small group of people, though. At The Week, Ryan Cooper notes that helping college students is really about helping the upper middle class:

The most important fact about higher education is that only a minority of people go to college. Though the proportion of people with a college degree has been rising for a long time, as of 2012, only about 40 percent of the population held a two-year degree or higher. That 40 percent, of course, overwhelmingly overlaps with the upper 40 percent of America's income distribution. The upshot here is that free college will inexorably tend to benefit the rich disproportionately, both because wealthy people are vastly more likely to go to college, and because a college degree sharply increases their earning potential. For every student to graduate without debt, the federal government would have to help them pay their tuition one way or another, and that would be costly. That money might be better used to help people who really need it, because most graduates with student loans are basically doing OK. In any case, they're usually better off than the majority of Americans who lack a degree.