‘Debt-free’ college embraced by many Democrats, setting stage for fights ahead Presented by Comcast

With help from Caitlin Emma, Michael Stratford and Benjamin Wermund

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MIDTERMS OFFER A POLITICAL TEST FOR FREE COLLEGE: Left-leaning Democrats running for Congress and governor have embraced Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “free college” mantra in the 2018 midterms. That’s sparking apprehension among some party strategists that such liberal proposals are too expensive and regressive — and might even alienate coveted white working class voters.

— Others in the party see momentum. They argue that free tuition and debt free college proposals will ease the nation’s $1.5 trillion student loan debt burden and improve the workforce. A Democratic-controlled House would see the notion at least aired even if it didn't get far, and free college plans are widely expected to be adopted by some presidential primary contenders in 2020.

— Progressive House candidates like New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have campaigned with gusto in support of tuition-free college at both two- and four-year institutions, in large part because their districts are so heavily Democratic that they're likely to win. In contrast, Democrats in more competitive congressional races have generally stayed clear of talking about free college.

— At the state level, it's taken different forms. Many Democrats running for governor, like David Garcia in Arizona and Tim Walz in Minnesota, have emphasized the need for two years of free community college or technical school. Others have taken it further.

— Read more on the issue from your host.

— Meanwhile, POLITICO’s Tim Noah explores how liberals’ wishlist could bite Democrats on not just free college, but also on issues ranging from the $15 minimum wage to single-payer health care.

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YOUR 2018 MIDTERMS HQ: The countdown is on. Policy professionals know the 2018 midterms represent more than keeping track of winners and losers. The outcome of high-stakes contests could dramatically alter the course of policymaking across the country. Go beyond election night with POLITICO Pro’s 2018 Midterms HQ. Read more.

HARVARD ADMISSIONS DEEP DIVE CONTINUES: Harvard’s longtime admissions chief will return to the stand in a federal courtroom in Boston today for a fourth day of questioning. Harvard’s attorneys will pick up a detailed deep dive into the school’s secretive admissions process that they began probing on Wednesday in an effort to “complete the picture” painted by the group accusing the school of discriminating against Asian-American applicants.

— The case is widely viewed as the next shot at ending the use of race in admissions. Students for Fair Admissions, the group suing the university, is led by longtime anti-affirmative-action activist Edward Blum, who has sat in the front row throughout the trial.

— Despite the lengthy grilling, Bill Fitzsimmons, who has led Harvard’s admissions office for three decades, and SFFA attorney John Hughes maintained a mostly cordial rapport, with the two occasionally cracking jokes. Fitzsimmons joked at one point that Hughes must have been a math major as Hughes peppered him with questions about admissions statistics.

— But as the questioning wore on Wednesday, Harvard’s team started to get testy. Bill Lee, the lead attorney, said he was worried about time — District Judge Allison Burroughs has only three weeks for the trial — and pointed out that Hughes had been able to interrogate Fitzsimmons for more than five hours over three days. Halfway through the third day, Harvard’s attorneys finally got the chance to question the admissions chief.

— Fitzsimmons’ testimony has been revelatory. On Wednesday, he admitted to adding children and relatives of donors to a list of potential students he tracks closely, even if he didn't know whether they would otherwise be strong applicants. Under questioning from Hughes, Fitzsimmons testified that considering the children of large donors is "important for the long-term strength of the institution" and helps ensure Harvard has the "resources" for things like scholarships.

— Fitzsimmons said the school's development office will occasionally send him names and he will "sometimes put them on the list," referring to a list he uses to track certain applicants. Asked whether he would add names regardless of whether they would otherwise be a strong candidate, Fitzsimmons said "we certainly don't know who will be a strong applicant."

— SFFA presented emails to Fitzsimmons that indicated donations may influence admissions decisions. In a June 2013 email, David Ellwood, then dean of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, wrote: “I am simply thrilled about all the folks you were able to admit. … All big wins.” The names in the email were redacted, but one, Ellwood wrote, “has already committed to a building” and “committed major money for fellowships ... before the decision from you!) and all are likely to be prominent in the future. Most importantly, I think all of these will be superb additions to the class.”

— In another email, David Fish, then Harvard's men's tennis coach, thanked Fitzsimmons for meeting with an applicant, who was "(unsurprisingly) thrilled with the chance to meet you and really enjoyed it despite the usual nerves." The email said Joe Donovan, Harvard's senior director of principal gifts, and Mike Smith, the dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, "have been in close contact" with a family "who donated ... to Harvard ... and who over the last four years has given us about $1,100,000." Fitzsimmons wrote back that he had a "terrific meeting" and it would be "perfectly appropriate" for him to be considered. Yet another email SFFA showed referenced an $8.7 million gift.

— Lee said in a statement that "there are some [children of] donors who get in and some that won’t." He added that "no one claims that the admission of donors or donors children or donors relatives on the Dean’s List has any effect on Asian Americans," referring to the list of potential students tracked by Fitzsimmons. "No economist claims this." Benjamin Wermund has more.

— Lee also spent some time asking Fitzsimmons about a so-called personal rating assigned to applicants. It’s become a key point of contention in the case as Asian-American applicants tend to score worse on it than other ratings Harvard assigns.

— The rating, which along with academic, athletic and extracurricular ratings is assigned at the earliest stages of the admissions process, is meant to help "figure out what kind of possible difference this person made to others in her school, outside her school, to her family, across the board," Fitzsimmons said. It's based on essays, teacher and counselor recommendations and interviews, among other things. Ben has more on that, too.

— The best recommendation Fitzsimmons has ever read was from the janitor at a high school, he said. The applicant had worked in the school to help pay tuition and worked with the janitor. The recommendation was brief, Fitzsimmons said, but “what this person said about how this student lit up the room at the end of the day. … You said to yourself, on a dismal day this is the kind of person you’d want with you.”

DEVOS TO TRAVEL TO ILLINOIS: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos travels today to Harper College, a community college in Palatine, Ill. She’s expected to observe students participating in a flexible apprenticeship program. The event starts at 1 p.m. CDT.

FOR-PROFIT COLLEGE STUDENTS SUE DEVOS OVER DEBT RELIEF: A group of students who attended a New York City for-profit college that suddenly closed last year is suing DeVos over debt relief. The class-action lawsuit accuses the Education Department of failing to properly notify former students of the now-bankrupt Technical Career Institutes, Inc., that they may qualify for a cancellation of their loans.

— The school, which enrolled as many as 1,400 students, shut down in September 2017 without any advance warning to students, according to the complaint. The lawsuit says the Education Department did not provide students with the proper 60-day reprieve on their loan payments, nor did it mail the required notices telling them of their option to cancel the debt.

— The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York on Wednesday, is being brought by the New York Legal Assistance Group.

SURVEY: PUBLIC OFTEN MISJUDGES BACKGROUND OF COLLEGE STUDENTS: A new survey out today finds that the public isn’t aware of many demographic shifts in higher education. For example, nearly two-thirds of respondents thought that most first-year students live on campus, when just 13 percent do. Less than half of those surveyed correctly said that Hispanic and African-American college students are less likely to complete their degree than white peers.

— The survey was commissioned by Higher Learning Advocates, a bipartisan group that works to shape federal higher education policy. It was conducted by Gfk Research.

— The public’s understanding was compared with that of Washington-focused “education insiders.” The insiders were “significantly more likely” to correctly identify the characteristics of today’s students. Read the report here.

— The results will be discussed at 11 a.m. today at a Higher Learning Advocates roundtable event focused on the shifting demographics and aspirations of today’s students. Former Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), a former chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, will participate. Your host is one of the event moderators. Watch the livestream here.

FIRST LOOK: GAUGING ENGAGEMENT ON ESSA PLANS: The nonprofit Collaborative for Student Success says education groups are reporting strong opportunities for engagement and input when it came to the drafting and development of their states’ plans for holding schools accountable under the Every Student Succeeds Act. State education agencies tasked with drafting the plans were required to reach out to a wide variety of groups for input.

— The Collaborative reviewed all 50 state plans to determine which groups were consulted and then reached out to those groups, receiving responses from nearly 400 individuals across 47 states and the District of Columbia. Eighty-one percent of respondents said they had great or some opportunity to provide feedback. About three quarters of all respondents said they received follow-up information from state officials after their state plan was submitted to federal officials for approval. Check out the results here.

ARIZONA GOVERNOR SAYS HE BACKS SCHOOL-CHOICE-FRIENDLY LAW: Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican whose home state has faced teacher unrest this year over K-12 funding, is backing a controversial state law that would expand eligibility to a program that allows public funds to pay for private school tuition, The Associated Press reports. In a statement, Ducey called the measure “fiscally responsible” and said that “when parents have options, kids win.”

— Whether the state should keep the law, which passed last year, will be voted on as a referendum item Nov. 6. Opponents, who say the law would take away funding from traditional public schools, were able to get enough signatures to have it put on the ballot. Arizona is one of several states where education-related issues will be decided by voters.

— The Urban Institute is out with a new brief today that explores the education-jobs “mix match” in 387 different metro areas. It finds that nearly 90 percent of the metro areas have a labor market mix-match in which the percentage of people with at least a four-year degree exceeds the percentage of jobs requiring this level of education.

— The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and The Badass Teachers Association released a tool kit today designed to help teachers avoid breaches or abuses of personal information. Read it here.

— The Foundation for Excellence in Education, an education reform group founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is out with a new resource on “equity and access” to “college and career pathways.”

— Robin Butterfield has been sworn in as president of the National Indian Education Association. Butterfield is a writer with the Native American Parent Technical Assistance Center who has served as a teacher and district administrator.

— In Colorado, nearly 40 school funding measures on ballots this fall: Colorado Sun.

— The impact of California’s First 5 initiative, spearheaded by actor-director Rob Reiner, is complicated to measure because of the lack of longitudinal data: Education Dive.

— Growing up with Alexa: A child's relationship with Amazon's voice assistant: CNN.

— Chicago Mayor Emanuel tries to shore up education legacy in final budget address: Chalkbeat.

— Student who says she was sexually assaulted on campus sues Southern Illinois University Edwardsville over response: St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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