Hillary Clinton caused an unexpected dustup recently when she tweeted on August 12th: “How does your student loan debt make you feel? Tell us in 3 emojis or less.”
The angry responses from students and others were blistering.
My personal favorite response to this tweet was: “Hillary, COLLEGE STUDENTS CAN USE WORDS.”
Though Hillary’s tweet was callous and insensitive, no doubt — I feel deeply thankful that presidential candidates are even thinking about this critically important issue.
From my perspective as an author, consultant, and speaker who helps parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free and move directly into careers they excel at and love, I’d like to offer this year’s crop of presidential candidates one piece of advice:
credit: Photopin.com
Please stop talking about making public college free for all college students. Please. Just. Stop.
It’s ridiculous.
You’re going to end up paying huge college bills for kids who don’t care enough about your gift to even get up and go to class in the morning.
Instead, pay for the college educations of kids who are working hard and succeeding in their college classes.
Pay for college for kids who get up at 7 am so that they can walk to 8 am Physics classes in driving sleet and rain. Pay for college for kids who patiently take notes in classes and then review them afterward. Pay for college for kids who seek out help from professors and tutors when they get stuck on difficult concepts. Pay for college for kids who work hard on papers and who sit in polished library carrels quizzing themselves until they know the material backward and forward.
Pay for college for kids who get good grades.
These kids are our country’s future. Take your $350 billion, Hillary, and invest it in these kids — and in ten years you’ll really have something.
My recommendation for presidential candidates:
Take the billions of dollars you plan to sink into higher education and use it to pay the college tuitions and student loan balances of kids who’ve earned high grades.
I have thousands of serious, high achieving blog followers who are just waiting for you to do this.
For clear, step-by-step help getting your kids through college debt-free, get your copy of my book:
Important—> It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing cover to cover. Pick out what you need to read in it using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.
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You can see why financial advising professionals love LAUNCH, here.
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Read just one chapter of LAUNCH every 1–3 months while your child’s in middle school and high school, and you’ll know every viable strategy for debt-free college at exactly the right time to implement it.
And if your child’s already well past middle school? That’s OK; you can run to catch up. But the process of getting your kids through college debt-free goes more smoothly the earlier you start it—especially if you’re not planning to save up any money to pay for college.
Let's you and I walk together toward the goal of debt-free college for your kids.
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Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News & World Report, and on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com. You can follow her on Bluesky @jburlowski.bsky.social.
No part of this article was written using AI.