Another letter supporting Bernie Sanders

I’m writing to express support for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary on April 4.

There are many reasons to support Sander, but I want to talk about one issue today. That issue is college affordability. Bernie Sanders wants to make tuition free at public colleges and universities.

When I started college in 1972, tuition at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point was $200 a semester. Now it’s $3,837. In 1972, working full time, I could earn $200 in five weeks. Now a student would need to work over 12 weeks to pay for one semester.

Students are no longer able to pay for school without borrowing large sums of money. I don’t think that is right. My children will have college debt of $40,000 to $60,000. That is a huge burden that they will have to live with for most of their adult life.

Last year Germany eliminated tuition because they believed that charging $1,300 per year was discouraging Germans from going to college. Next year Chile will do the same. Finland, Norway Sweden, and many other countries offer free college. If those countries can offer free tuition, so can the United States.

Sanders wants to make college tuition free by imposing a tax on Wall Street speculators. The cost of this $75 billion plan is fully paid for with a fraction of a percent tax on Wall Street trades. More than 1,000 economist have endorsed this plan. Forty countries have a similar tax.

If the taxpayers could bailout Wall Street in 2008, then they should be able to pay the American people back.

Peter Metzig
Waupaca