Liberals care about higher education — a lot. It’s long been a top-tier issue of the left, from the construction of state universities decades ago to the Occupy Wall Street protests of this decade. So it’s no surprise that Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has made higher education policy a major plank in his left-wing primary challenge to Hillary Clinton.
Higher education ought to be considered a “right,” Sanders said in an interview with The Huffington Post. Similarly, he has previously argued for large increases in government tuition assistance. By upping federal aid by $18 billion, matched by states, all Americans could effectively have two years of free college at public universities across the nation.