Chris Christie: colleges 'drunk on cash'

Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ), 2016 Republican presidential hopeful, presented his platform for education reform last week at Iowa State University.

Christie laid out ideas for new programs to help alleviate the college debt crisis, including the creation of a system based on income-share agreements.

Income-share agreements, according to Christie, are programs in which college students would agree to pay a percentage of any future paychecks for a period of time. In exchange, the college students would receive private funding. Agreements are made with students and lenders to make sure payments are constant so student loan debt won't take long periods of time to pay off.

Christie also mentioned the possibility of exchanging community service for private and public grants.

According to Bloomberg Politics, Christie spoke of how, “We need to have a bigger national conversation about how to innovate on [college] student financing—and options like [grants for community service and ] should be on the table.”

He also spoke on how debt-free college is not the answer. Christie stated that free college is a “typical liberal approach," and even criticized President Obama’s free community college plan.

The New York Times reported that Christie reminded those present that, “We know there is nothing free in the world.”

Christie also criticized American colleges for being ‘drunk on cash.’

"Some colleges are drunk on cash and embarking on crazy spending binges, just because they know they can get huge revenues from tuition," Christie said, according to CBS News. "We have million-dollar-plus salaries for education administrators, and millions more being poured into unnecessary college bureaucracy.”

The governor also called for more transparency in colleges’ finances, arguing that students ought to have the right to know how fiscally responsible their administration is and understand the “other fees” on tuition bills.

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