Christie: Debt-free college is 'wrong'

New Jersey Gov. and Republican presidential contender Chris Christie laid out a multi-pronged higher education agenda Thursday, and a key part — unsurprisingly — is college affordability.

The issue has shot into the spotlight in recent weeks, both in Congress and on the campaign trail. Christie delivered his address at Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa.


Setting the stage with the story of his father — a top high school student who enlisted in the Army because he couldn’t afford to accept an offer to attend Columbia University, then returned to Rutgers University on the G.I. Bill — Christie proposed “a system where we all need to take personal responsibility to grasp the opportunities in higher education, but also one where we can get a leg up when we need it.”

Debt-free college, Christie said, is not the answer.

“That is a typical liberal approach. It is wrong,” he said, according to prepared remarks. “If college graduates are going to reap the greater economic rewards and opportunities of earning a degree, then it seems fair for them to support the cost of the education they’re receiving.”

Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton, Gov. Martin O’Malley and Sen. Bernie Sanders have all expressed varying levels of interest in the increasingly popular debt-free college concept.

However, Christie said Congress should “properly fund and expand” financial aid programs for low-income students, noting that Pell grants have expanded while Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants and Perkins Loans have tapered off.

Christie also wants to consider approaches like tax credits for donors to higher education grant organizations, and income-share agreements, where students repay private financing received in college with some percentage of their income in the future. (Sen. Marco Rubio has introduced legislation for such plans).