High school students across America are about to reach an important milestone: voting in their first presidential election. A student 18 years of age, on or before Nov. 8, 2016, will be allowed to choose who they want to be the next leader of our country.
The students voting this year will be graduating in the spring and starting their own lives. The issue they are most concerned about: How will they afford college and how student debt applies to them?
Senator Bernie Sanders, the runner up to Hillary Clinton in the primaries, said he hoped to “make tuition free at public colleges and universities” if he won the presidency.
“Bernie Sanders had my support because he is vocal on hot topic issues that the other parties typically avoid. He gives a moral voice to issues plaguing the country today, and is ready to create a positive change to fix them,” said Timber Creek senior, Hope Feuling. “Bernie made it known that he will always be guided by his moral compass, and stands up for the little guys. I support free tuition at community colleges, and regulated tuition at public universities. No single student academic success or opportunity should be based on their financial status.”
“I will be supporting Hillary in the upcoming election, because she is the Democratic nominee, and in my opinion, the lesser of two evils, but Bernie was my first choice, and will continue to have my support throughout the rest of his political career,” said Feuling.
Generation Y, the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s, is said to be the more liberal generation with favoring Sanders in the primaries.
But with Clinton being the democratic nominee, what does that mean for Generation Y? Clinton came out with her plan in July of 2016 to make public colleges free for the children of any family earning less than $125,000 a year. This move made by Clinton was presumably made to appeal to the supporters of Sanders.
“My first thought on free college tuition? Please! But then when I started thinking beyond how it would effect me in just the very near future it becomes how unrealistic it starts to sound. When you think about all of the people who work for a college or university you kind of have to ask yourself how those people would get paid if it weren’t for tuition?” commented Abby Greiner, Timber Creek senior and first time voter this year.
“Someone would have to pay them and higher education became a government funded program, then the government would be signing their paychecks and where does the government get their funding from? The majority of it comes from taxes which comes back to us. If college were free then the money would be coming out of your, or your parents, pockets eventually. I believe an alternative would to be lower tuition and especially lower book fees, living fees, and make student aid more accessible and more open to helping the middle class,” Greiner said.
“I personally thought Sanders would be a good president, but I have always stayed supporting Hillary Clinton and urged others to vote for Hillary even during the primary because I knew that Bernie was too far left to ever get elected realistically. In my opinion it’s always been like this since the primary: a vote that isn’t Hillary is a vote for Trump,” said Greiner.
Not all of the members of Generation Y have gone for the more liberal tendencies of this election. Some have gone for the more traditional and conservative views.
Student Body President Dillon Fontaine, a Timber Creek senior and voter in the election this year, feels the idea of free college is “a great cause and idea, but it is very implausible.”
“The question I want to pose is, where is this money going to come from? Things may be free for one person but it is only free because somebody else is paying for it. Essentially you’re transferring personal debt to federal debt. Considering that our nation is 19 trillion dollars in the hole we cannot increase our social spending anymore than it is now,” Fontaine said.