Sen. Amy Klobuchar says she’s against proposals to make public college education free because of the cost — distancing herself from the more progressive Democrats seeking their party’s presidential nomination.
“I am not for free college for all. I wish if I was a magic genie and could give that to everyone and we could afford it, I would,” the Minnesota Democrat said Monday night on CNN.
But, she added, there were other ways to help students and their families handle soaring college costs.
“I’m just trying to find a mix of incentives and make sure kids are in need, and that’s why I talked about expanding Pell Grants, can go to college and be able to afford it and make sure that people who can’t afford it are able to pay,” she said.
At the town hall event in Manchester, New Hampshire, a recent college grad asked her about the student debt crisis.
Klobuchar said she wanted to “make it easier to refinance” loans, give Pell Grants to more students and make two-year community college free — but not four-year colleges.
Klobuchar also hasn’t signed on to the Green New Deal plan advanced by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, positioning herself closer to the party’s center.
Klobuchar is in a race that as of Tuesday includes Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kristen Gillibrand of New York, among others.
Sanders sponsored a bill calling for free tuition, and Harris, Warren and Booker signed on.