Yep, I pulled the "100% free college" part out of my ass to give an example, but this $4,000 credit is something he's campaigned on for a long time. [
source - check out the dates on some of those results] In the end, it has nothing to do with being against the youth. It was about how easily some of their votes can be bought while students disregard the rest of the issues due to their inexperience.
I, like Whitney Houston, believe the children are our future. I have confidence that the smart ones, like yourself, will change this country into something we can be proud of (for a change). That does not mean that we should give everyone a ride through college because, quite frankly, most don't deserve it and will just waste our tax dollars. 3.0 and above ... sure, fund their education. But every child, every year ... no way.
I was also in college a short decade ago, kids have not changed much in this time. My brother is in college right now and I spend weeks each year with his friends. However, neither of our samples are big enough to draw any conclusions. Neither of us know millions or even thousands of kids intimately enough to know how educated the whole population is on politics. I painted with a broad brush and you checked me on it. You are doing the exact same thing in saying the youth of today is different than they were 10, 20, or even 50 years ago. It's all about perspective & personal experience. My perspective says that students are easier to buy because their world consists of very few complexities, unlike the rest of the voting population.
I'm have the exact same history. 2 univ. + 1 community college. I'm positive you are not a lazy person, nor did I accuse you of this. But that doesn't mean that you are a sample of the entire population.
I was one of those guys who worked their ass off to get through school. Tuition, books, living expenses, food ... I know how hard it can be first hand and would have welcomed a policy of $4k for every kid at that point in my life, 10 years of experience tells me this is a bad idea. Again, he's just trying to buy votes and is disregarding our country's budget woes.
HS graduates can make enough to get off of welfare. College is for the upper 10% and should not be a given right to all students regardless of the effort they have put into their own education.
As I stated, I'm more for this than I am for over funding welfare. If he revises his plan to all students with a GPA above 3.0 (or some other reasonable standard), I'm 100% behind it, as would be most of the population