DeVos says free college amounts to a 'socialist takeover'

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy In a veiled swing at President-elect Joe Biden s education plans, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday blasted the push for free college as a “socialist takeover of higher education” that could damage the nation's economy. But mark my words: None of you would like the way it will work.” DeVos has long opposed free college proposals and has been accused of undermining federal programs that allow some borrowers to get their student loans forgiven. DeVos argued that free college would place an unfair burden on taxpayers, requiring Americans who do not pursue college to “pay the bills” for those who do. College counselors, she added, would simply become “rationers” who allocate “state-approved higher education options.” “If the politicians proposing free college today get their way, just watch our colleges and universities begin to resemble a failing K-12 school, with the customer service of the DMV to boot,” she said.