Bernard Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont and long-shot candidate for the Democratic Party's 2016 presidential nomination, introduced a bill on Tuesday that would make attending all four-year public colleges free. The College for All Act, the cost of which would be split between the federal government and the states, has virtually no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Congress.
The bill proposes a tax on transactions in the financial sector to offset its estimated $470-billion price tag over 10 years.
In a written statement, Mr. Sanders pointed to efforts other countries have made toeliminate postsecondary education’s cost to students, and cited the low levels of tuition at American universities generations ago.
Affordability has been on politicians’ lips in recent months, with President Obamaunveiling a proposal to make two years of community college free and the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign staff hinting at "debt-free college" as a possible part of her platform.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/democratic-senators-bill-would-make-public-4-year-colleges-free-for-all/99219