14 highlights from Bernie Sanders' first Michigan campaign stop

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wants to make tuition free at public colleges and universities throughout the U.S.

Not surprisingly, that message resonated with a crowd filled with thousands of college students at Eastern Michigan University on Monday afternoon.

"If we can make it clear that any kid in this country who studies hard and does well in school will be able to get a higher education, regardless of income of their family, that will revolutionize education," Sanders said.

The crowd of 9,200-plus people packed inside EMU's Convocation Center applauded and cheered enthusiastically as the U.S. senator from Vermont called for taxing Wall Street speculators to pay for his college affordability plan.

"Together, what we are going to do is invest in education and jobs -- not jails and incarceration," Sanders said. "I want our young people to be working in meaningful jobs, earning decent income, or in school -- not in jail."

Sanders insisted making tuition free at public colleges and universities is not a radical idea, arguing it's been done in Germany and elsewhere.

"It's an idea that exists in countries throughout the world. It is basically an idea that used to exist here 50 or 60 years ago," he said.

He said there are children in Michigan and throughout the country whose parents don't have the money to send them to college.

"What this country is supposed to be about is encouraging people to get the best education they can," he said. "That is why, to my mind, it is incomprehensible that hundreds of thousands of bright and qualified young people today are unable to get a college education because their families lack the funds."

University of Michigan students Hannah MacDonald-Campbell and Ellie Epskamp-Hunt were among those who applauded Sanders' call for free tuition.



They both have their U-M tuition costs covered by the Kalamazoo Promise, a scholarship program started in their city. But they'd like to see the same opportunities available to everyone on a national scale.

"Having that is incredible," MacDonald-Campbell said. "I wouldn't be going to U of M if I didn't have it, for sure."

"We've seen it happen in our own town, so we know it's a possibility," said Epskamp-Hunt.

Westland native Brad Wilson also was among those cheering on Sanders at the rally on EMU's campus in Ypsilanti.

Wilson said he's a student at EMU, but he's technically inactive at the moment because of tuition costs.

He's taking the long route toward a degree in communications.

"I went to Eastern for a while, then I took some time off to help pay for my tuition. I was basically paying semester by semester," he said. "I watched myself signing up for $5,000 and $10,000 loans at a time."

If it weren't for financial hurdles, Wilson said he would be working toward his degree without taking time off to work.

When all is said and done, he still expects to leave EMU with $35,000 to $40,000 in student loan debt.

"That's with paying for a couple semesters with cash out of pocket, and working two jobs at once to actually try to cover those payments so Eastern would stop sending me collection notices and stuff like that," he said.

The EMU Board of Regents last June approved a tuition and mandatory fees increase of 7.8 percent for the fall.

Even with the increase, school officials say EMU remains one of the most affordable universities in Michigan, with tuition and mandatory fees of $10,417 for an incoming resident freshman. Revenues in the EMU budget for this year include $229.2 million in tuition and fees, a $72.7 million state appropriation, plus $9.8 million in other revenues such as investment income and facility rentals.

Sanders decried an "outrageous level of student debt" in the U.S., describing it as decades-long punishment for the crime of trying to get an education.

"How many people are carrying student debt?" the senator asked at one point, prompting hands to shoot up throughout the arena.

"That is why as part of our legislation, we are going to allow people with student debt to refinance their debt with the lowest-possible interest rates," he said.

The Sanders plan also would require public colleges and universities to meet 100 percent of the financial needs of the lowest-income students, his campaign website states, noting low-income students would be able to use federal, state and college financial aid to cover room and board, books and living expenses.

Sanders says the cost of his college affordability plan, estimated to cost $75 billion a year, would be fully paid for by imposing a tax of a fraction of a percent on Wall Street speculators who nearly destroyed the economy seven years ago.

"After Wall Street crashed the economy, they came begging to the United States Congress," he said. "They said, 'Yes, we were bad boys, bail us out,' and the middle class bailed them out. Now it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class."

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.