I’ll be handing this out tomorrow at Northern Virginia Community College in Loudoun, in front of the Learning Commons/Cafeteria, noon to 1. If you’re in the neighborhood, come by and say hello. Help us make some waves. If you go to Laurel Ridge, we can do it there too.
Free College – An Impossible Dream?
In Virginia, community colleges like NOVA are affordable for a broad range of families, but state university costs remain financially out of reach for many. For instance, tuition and fees at George Mason University run about $13,000 for the current academic year. At UVA, it’s over $18,000. Transfer into state universities can be easy, paying the freight not so much.
Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington have a bill to reduce the cost of college for the nation, but the current Republican leadership of the House of Representatives makes that bill nearly impossible to pass this year. President Biden has proposed increases in aid, but his plans face that same problem.
It doesn’t have to be that way in Virginia. The state legislature can increase aid to our public colleges and force tuition and fees to decrease. Past cuts in aid are partly responsible for the increase in costs to begin with.
My name is Max B. Sawicky, and I am running for the House of Delegates in District 30, which includes Loudoun County north and west of Leesburg. You can read about me and my campaign at MaxSpeak.Net. I don’t expect you to donate money, but I do hope to find volunteers to contact voters and spread the word.
If you check out MaxSpeak.Net, you could fairly conclude that I am an unusual candidate, especially for these parts of Virginia. I can’t make Free College happen all by myself, but it’s a pretty good bet that if this issue helps an old hippie to win an election, politicians in the state legislature will take notice.
Another issue that tends to interest younger people like you is climate change. I don’t need to explain why. On this I am confident that I would be the strongest voice in Richmond. At age 73, I am not a career politician. My super-power is that I can say and do whatever I think is right. I am not worried about re-election. I don’t have to appease any moneyed interests. I am particularly eager to break the power of Dominion Energy, one of the biggest donors in Virginia state politics, a corrupt force holding back progress towards a transition to renewable energy.
If you are with me, email delegatemax@maxspeak.net. Let’s talk.