Gov. Chris Christie blasted Democratic plans for free college in an hour-long speech on education Thursday, offering instead a list of detailed proposals to tackle exploding higher education costs and struggling K-12 public education systems.
Speaking to a packed room at Iowa State University, the New Jersey Republican said the push for debt-free college programs is “wrong” and a “typical liberal approach.”
Instead the New Jersey governor proposed a policy called income share agreements, which would require students to pay a percentage of their salary for a certain period of time after they graduate, rather than take out student loans. The percentage they pay depends on how successful they are.
Another possibility, he suggested, would be programs that allow debt relief in exchange for community service. He was also in favor of pushing to allow students to renegotiate their loans after college.
“If you want to renegotiate your mortgage, you can. If you want to renegotiate your car, you can. But for some reason you don’t get to renegotiate your loan. They should let them do that,” he told a voter after the speech.
Arguing that “almost no one is having a productive conversation” about education on the national level, the likely presidential candidate listed 15 ideas and cited actions he’s taken as governor as potential models for the rest of the country on battling teacher unions and improving college readiness.
On K-12 education, he said “last-in-first-out” policies were “insane” and argued that getting rid of them should be a “national priority.”
Christie also defended his decision to eliminate Common Core standards in New Jersey. Asked by two voters after his speech why he changed his mind — Christie was formerly a staunch supporter of the standards — the governor said he gave it a shot but people weren’t buying in to participate.
“After four years, you go to decide if you’re going to be smart or you’re going to be stubborn,” he said, saying he agreed to try something else.
The governor also pushed for restoring more funding for the Perkins loan that helps low-income students go to college.
“Poor students need to go to college, too,” he said.
To control higher ed costs, Christie, who currently has two kids in college, called for universities to disclose their spending line by line to students and parents, saying college invoices are the most “opaque” bills “in the world.”
He said students shouldn’t have to pay for add-ons in college that they don’t use, like rock-climbing walls and other features that sometimes get listed as “other fees” on college bills.
“Let’s let them pay for what they want to pay for,” he said.