The United States Green Party is advocating for something it believes could turn the country around and make it more competitive in terms of the world market.
The party is calling for a “Green New Deal,” which would make tuition free at public universities. According to the party, neither the Democratic nor Republican party supports free college tuition.
Gary Ruskin, co-founder of Green Change, a national political organization, said Greens want to give every American student the opportunity to attend college.
“Students are our future,” he said. “[There’s] no way Americans can have a glowing future unless our students are the best. Increasingly, students can barely afford to attend college or they can’t afford to go at all. This hampers our ability to be the best nation in the world. We are very serious about education.”
Jessica Williams, a junior, thinks the idea is interesting.
“Who wouldn’t want free tuition?” she said. “I just don’t know if it’s something they would be able to pull off. I’ve never heard of the Green Party before. Maybe if it were the Democrats and Republicans fighting for this, I would get more excited.”
The Green Party began as the Association of State Green Parties. The organization was formed after the 1996 elections to help “fill a void” in national Green politics. Four years later, the ASGP officially became known as the Green Party. Shortly after this, it filed for national party status with the FEC in August of 2001.
According to the party, the main mission is to provide a “viable political alternative” in the U.S. and to provide every American with a fair chance to achieve wealth and success through education.
Ruskin said the proposal for free tuition is something the Greens gathered around to support this year, including the 101 Green Party candidates running for office in the nation.
In the state of Michigan, there are 11 Green Party members running for office including six who are seeking a place within the U.S. House of Representatives.
“This is something that’s been doting around Greens for awhile,” he said. “Given how students are locked out of an education and a good future.”
Although Ruskin didn’t expound upon how the party would implement free tuition around the country, he doesn’t see why some might think it wouldn’t be feasible.
“I don’t see why we can’t,” he said.
Ruskin said his party has received a lot of positive feedback from citizens around the country, especially students.
“They’re cheered on to see that there is actually a political party that wants to help them out,” he said. “Both Democrats and Republicans have turned their backs on them.”
Marcus Jackson, a sophomore, is against the idea.
“Think about it,” he said. “There’s no way they could get this done. How would the universities be able to generate any money? Would the government take over?
“No thanks. I think everyone’s a little tired of everything being controlled by the government. It probably wouldn’t even be totally free anyways. They would probably try to get us back somehow with taxes or something.”
According to Proposal 468, Education: A Good Education for All Students, the Green Party also wants to change how much money is funded toward schools by eliminating “gross inequalities.”
The proposal also calls for making student loans available to all college students, with forgiveness for graduates who choose public service occupations.
Ruskin said he “certainly believes” there should be loan forgiveness for people who don’t take high-paying jobs.
Adam Stephens has an issue with that idea.
“I don’t think that’s fair at all,” he said. “Whether we’re going into a service field or not, we all should be able to get some kind of help with our loans. If the government were to only help out one specific group, to me that sounds like certain jobs are more important than others. I think all jobs have their place within our economy.”
Jazmin Pitts is hopeful she could benefit from the idea of loan forgiveness.
“I think I’ve heard of this before from another party, but I’m not sure,” she said. “I want to be a teacher because I love kids, but I know I’m not going to get paid as much as some of the other fields out there. That might make people not want to take jobs in education because if we don’t get some kind of help with our loan payments, we might not be able to make a decent living. For a party to actually do it and not just talk about it would be great.”
Ruskin said his party is urging students across the country to organize their friends to register Green and vote Green in November.
Briana Moore said she might look into the party.
“I’m all for anyone that’s for us students,” she said. “I do feel like we’ve been put on the backburner lately. I still don’t know which way I’m voting, but I have more to think about now.”
