Senator Bernie Sanders may not have succeeded in his effort to become president, but his campaign to place the cost of college higher up on the national agenda seems to be gaining momentum. In January, he was by Andrew Cuomo’s side when the governor proposed that New Yorkers with family income under $125,000 be able to attend state colleges tuition-free. Then Rhode Island announced its own proposal, covering two years but open to all in-state students no matter their income. At the federal level, with a Republican-controlled Congress, prospects for similar legislation are dim. During her confirmation hearing as education secretary, Betsy DeVos told Mr. Sanders: “There’s nothing in life that’s truly free. Somebody’s going to pay for it.” Still, the senator from Vermont continues to visit campuses and to push for federal legislation that would make tuition at public colleges free for all.

Image Senator Bernie Sanders Credit... Mary Altaffer/Associated Press

One of President Trump’s few statements about higher education finance reflected his desire to bring tuition prices down by cutting what he called administrative bloat and tapping endowments. Do you agree with that approach?

We do have to do our best to make sure that colleges and universities are cost-effective and that endowments are not used to build 50,000- or 100,000-person football stadiums or for spending a fortune on four-star suites. Very often, however, many of the costs associated with colleges don’t have a lot to do with education per se, whether it’s health care for faculty or energy costs. And those are national problems that we have to address.