On July 11 2019, Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttgieg proposed a plan, known as the Douglass Plan, for the purpose of addressing racism/systemic discrimination and improving opportunities for African-American success. This plan also included changes regarding higher education, quoted directly and listed below.
- “We will invest in college students’ futures by making public college tuition free for low-income students and ensuring the lowest-income students can cover living costs without taking on student debt through increased investments in the Pell Grant program. We will ensure all student loan borrowers have affordable and safe ways to manage their debt.”
- “We will cancel the debts of borrowers in low-quality, overwhelmingly for-profit programs beginning with those that failed federal “gainful employment” rules designed to ensure students receive an adequate return on their investments where the federal government should never have allowed students to enroll. We will hold those colleges accountable for their predatory actions.”
- “We will increase dedicated resources by $25 billion for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority-Serving Institutions, which have played an extraordinary role in educating Black students, developing remarkable leaders, and helping build a burgeoning Black middle class.”
The questions of student debt cancellation and tuition-free public education are key to the campaign platforms of several candidates from the Democratic party, with varying attitudes regarding them, ranging from proposals such as Buttgieg’s to more radical and ambitious proposals such as those espoused by Senator Bernie Sanders.