A reader wants to wait until Hillary Clinton launcher her "free college" program.

ask the expert, student loans

Question: I graduated from high school in June but didn’t feel ready for college — mentally or financially. So I’ve been working construction, living at home, and saving money. I was thinking about going to college in January, but then a friend said I should wait to see who becomes president first— because if Clinton wins, she’s going to make college free for families who make less than $125,000 a year. That’s definitely my family.

If Trump wins, no free college. In that case, I might wait longer to save up more money. So my question is: Should I wait until summer to sign up?

— Paul in Iowa

Howard Dvorkin CPA answers…

I’m a financial expert, not a political one, but I think this is probably a bipartisan opinion: Don’t let the president dictate your choices.

If you want to go to college, do it based on you: How much money you’ve saved, your readiness to study hard, and your career goals.

You’ll waste a lot of years waiting on the government to launch the particular program you want. If Hillary Clinton is elected, she won’t be able to deliver on her free-college campaign promise for quite awhile. If at all.

Remember, Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act didn’t become law until midway through his first term, and it almost didn’t happen. You could argue that grinding all the details to make college free for families earning less than $125,000 is even more complicated than overhauling the healthcare system.

You’re doing the right thing by saving money, Paul. I hope you’ll do the right thing and vote this November. What should you do after that? Neither I nor the president can answer that for you.

Did we provide the information you needed? If not let us know and we’ll improve this page.
Let us know if you liked the post. That’s the only way we can improve.
Yes
No
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin

About the Author

Howard Dvorkin, CPA

Howard Dvorkin, CPA

I’m a certified public accountant who has authored two books on getting out of debt, Credit Hell and Power Up, and I am one of the personal finance experts for Debt.com. I have focused my professional endeavors in the consumer finance, technology, media and real estate industries creating not only Debt.com, but also Financial Apps and Start Fresh Today, among others. My personal finance advice has been included in countless articles, and has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Forbes and Entrepreneur as well as virtually every national and local newspaper in the country. Everyone should have a reason for living that’s bigger than themselves, and besides my family, mine is this: Teaching Americans how to live happily within their means. To me, money is not the root of all evil. Poor money management is. Money cannot buy happiness, but going into debt always buys misery. That’s why I launched Debt.com. I’m glad you’re here.

View All Posts

Published by Debt.com, LLC