Senator Stabenow,
As a young working Michigander I took great pride in voting for you to represent our state in the senate. 2012 was the first election I voted in post graduation. I was happy to vote for a Senator with a strong track record in working for Michigan families. Particularly as the son of a single working mother, also a teacher. But I was 60k in dept and terrified, which is why I greatly appreciate your #InTheRed campaign. I couldn't rely on my parents or lucrative scholarships to pay for my education, I graduated 60 thousand dollars #InTheRed as a result. Since graduating in 2012 I was able to land a job and pay down my debt by almost 40k, but I'm still 20k in! Because of this I support your #InTheRed campaign, but I also have a problem with your endorsement of Hillary Clinton as President.
Hillary Clinton is proposing a debt free college, but Bernie Sanders is proposing making college free. I have major doubts over Hillary Clinton's affordable college plan, mostly because it seems like a No Child Left Behind solution. It plans on providing grants and funding to states based on individual school's willingness and ability to lower tuition. I've blogged extensively about the inequality that could arise out of this plan: https://canberniesandersdoit.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/can-bernie-sanders-make-college-free/
For one, Republican led states may not reverse their pattern of divestment in higher education, so under the Clinton campaign schools in those states would not be able to lower costs for their students. Two, my smaller school, Oakland University, provided great opportunities to students who couldn't move to larger schools for whatever reason, oftentimes economic ones. Oakland University though, received the least funding of any school from the state of MI. So under Clinton's plan there is no guarantee that OU would be able to lower tuition costs and would remain unaffordable for the students who need affordable college most. Bernie Sanders plan to get students out of the red is to provide free college to all students. Providing education to all through sweeping federal action is a far better method because it doesn't cause state by state and school by school competition. This means every student has an equal right to free education whether they are going to U of M or SVSU or OU or Harvard. No student who has the educational prowess to get into college should ever feel money is an obstacle. Clinton's plan is about affordability to SOME and Sanders is about free education for ALL.
Whomever is elected in 2016 will have to do something about rising student debt and higher education costs before things come crashing down. I know you know this. The problem cannot be boiled down to state divestment; the federal government is subsidizing students to go to college and collections agencies down to loan holding companies are profiting wildly. Many declare Bernie Sanders plan unrealistic or that it can't be done, but I believe with powerful allies like yourself, combined with passionate movements like #InTheRed, we can make college free for all students with college aspirations. That's why I believe you should endorse Bernie Sanders for president in the 2016 democratic primary.
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