Last night, at the debate, Hillary Clinton said about Bernie Sanders’“free tuition” plan:
And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that.
Was she right? Sanders mouthed a long “Noooo” for viewers, so let’s check the facts, shall we?
THIS is Sanders’“College for All Act.” It was introduced on May 29, 2015, clearly after he started running for President, so I think it’s fair to say this is the plan he’s been pushing since then. The argument, “that’s an old law — look at his website” is, to me, absurdly disingenuous. It’s telling us, “don’t look at what he’d actually propose — look at his ‘vision.’” No, I want to look at what he’d actually propose.
So here you go, section 101(a)(1), the very beginning of the Act, says:
(1) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—From amounts appropriated under subsection (f), the Secretary of Education (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) shall award grants, from allotments under subsection (b), to States having applications approved under subsection (d), to enable the States to eliminate tuition and required fees at public institutions of higher education.
Yup. “States having applications approved.” That means States have to apply to participate in the program.
Going down to the very next subsection, again in the first paragraph, we find this:
(1) INITIAL ALLOTMENT.—For fiscal year 2016, the Secretary shall allot to each eligible State that submits an application under this section an amount that is equal to 67 percent of the total revenue received by the State’s public system of higher education in the form of tuition and related fees for fiscal year 2016. For each of fiscal years 2017 through 2019, the Secretary shall allot to each eligible State that submits an application under this section
Again, the statute only provides money to states that submit applications.
And here we see the actual application language:
(d) Submission And Contents Of Application.—For each fiscal year for which a State desires a grant under this section, the State agency with jurisdiction over higher education, or another agency designated by the Governor or chief executive of the State to administer the program under this section, shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require.
What does this mean?
It means that Sanders’“free tuition” plan will, at best, apply only to States that apply to participate, and that means Wisconsin won’t see free tuition as long as Scott Walker is Governor. Neither will Florida, nor Texas, nor Oklahoma, nor Georgia, nor, well, anywhere with a Republican governor, or even with a Democratic governor but a Republican legislature (e.g. Virginia).
So yes, Clinton was absolutely right.