During Thursday’s presidential debate, 2020 presidential candidate South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) expressed his opposition to universal free college by saying that while he supports free college for people who might face cost issues, it doesn’t make sense “to ask working-class families to subsidize even the children of billionaires.”
Buttigieg said, “I believe in reducing student debt. It’s logical to me that if you can refinance your house, you ought to be able to refinance your student debt. I also believe in free college for low and middle-income students, for whom cost could be a barrier. I just don’t believe it makes sense to ask working-class families to subsidize even the children of billionaires. I think the children of the wealthiest Americans can pay at least a little bit of tuition. And while I want tuition costs to go down, I don’t think we can buy down every last penny for them. Now, there’s something else that doesn’t get talked about in the college affordability debate. Yes, it needs to be more affordable in this country to go to college. It also needs to be more affordable in this country to not go to college. … That’s one of many reasons we need to raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour.”
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