Go Green Guarantee

(essentially free college)

​

As a student, I worked, signed up for loans and financial aid, depleted my savings and had some help from my parents in order to pay for college. I graduated with $40,370 in student loan debt that I pay off every month…and I still feel that I was lucky. Some of my friends have much more debt than that. We can and must do better than this.

​

Reducing the debt burden that students must take on in order to go to college has got to be on the “must do” list for any university trustee. We can learn how to do this from our peers in the Big 10. The University of Michigan has a program that pays the tuition for in-state students based on household income. We can afford to and should create something similar at Michigan State.

 

First, we start by streamlining financial aid to ensure that every in-state student who comes from a household with income of less than $65,000 is guaranteed free tuition. For students who come from households with income of less than $120,000, but above $65,000, we must target grants and scholarships to ensure that their tuition remains proportionately priced. Combined, these two ideas form the basis for my Go Green Guarantee.