Vermont U.S. Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is officially announcing today that if elected to office, he will be forgiving all $1.6 Trillion of college debt with a program that has zero eligibility restrictions.
The plan will be available to all 45 Million U.S. citizens enrolled in university or college, regardless of whether they are taking out private student loans, state loans, or federal loans.
Since his initial campaign in 2016, Sanders has had very particular opinions regarding tuition fees and student debt.
Forbes recently broke down Sanders’ key points regarding college and university:
First, he believes four-year public colleges and community colleges should be free for everyone.
He also believes that federal student loan interest rates should be lower.
Additionally, he believes that the federal government should not make a profit on student loans, and that student loan refinancing should be revamped to help save money for more borrowers.
Sanders plans to use a new taxation on financial transactions to pay off the debt.
He expects this taxation to raise more than $2 trillion over the next 10 years.
More specifically, the tax plan will include a 0.5% fee on all stock trades, a 0.1% fee on all bond trades and a 0.005% fee on all derivatives trades.
The plan forgives a larger amount of debt than Elizabeth Warren’s student debt plan.
Senator Elizabeth Warren announced earlier this month that her student debt forgiveness legislation would cancel student loan debt for more than 95% of borrowers.
Under Warren’s plan, private student loans cannot be canceled. Also, only up to $50,000 in student loan debt for every person with a household income under $100,000 will be cancelled.
Her plan includes “substantial debt cancellation” for every person with a household income between $100,000 and $250,000.
The 2020 Presidential candidates have vastly different plans from one another regarding student loan debt.
Contrasting complete debt forgiveness, some candidates have promised things like debt-free college grants, debt forgiveness under certain household income requirements, new financing plans to pay off debt faster, and even public service loan forgiveness.
h/t: Forbes
