Prospects for Higher Education

With the swearing in of a new governor comes change for West Virginia in many areas, but will that include a proposal of free tuition for students at colleges and universities?  Governor Jim Justice touched on different subjects during his inauguration speech which included the coal industry and how teachers are underpaid.  None of which contained information on what he would do for higher education or students struggling to pay tuition.

Other people who hit the campaign trail though hit the topic hard with plans and sense of security for a future in free tuition.  Senator Bernie Sanders was one of these advocates and created a six step plan to make college debt free according to his website.  The last step mentioned was how this free tuition would be paid which is a reasonable question coming from students themselves and taxpayers.  Senator Sanders suggest that it will be fully paid by imposing a tax on wall street speculators.  Governor Andrew M. Cuomo of New York proposed a plan of similar origin concerning free tuition for colleges and universities.  According to the New York Times, in Governor Cuomo's plan students who have been accepted to a state or city university in New York would be eligible if their families earn $125,000 or less a year.  This plan would include two-year community colleges and four-year schools.  Governor Cuomo and Senator Sanders so strongly agreed with each other that they participated at a joint announcement at LaGuardia Community College.

"What Governor Cuomo is proposing is a revolutionary idea for higher education.  It's an idea that's going to reverberate not only throughout the State of New York, but throughout this country," said Senator Sanders.

Back to the home-front in West Virginia, this is a different story.  Universities across the state await a detailed planned for their future.  Governor Justice is a graduate from Marshall University and stands as a democrat.  Yet he did not side with Hillary Clinton, but rather more with President-Elect Donald Trump during the campaign and now.  This could mean he will not take the same stance as Senator Sanders and Governor Cuomo on this subject.  With no mention of higher in education in his speeches so far, it may not become a priority on his list.  According to MetroNews, not many specifics were given in the inaugural speech, but usually policy positions are more laid out on Feb. 8 at his State of the State speech.