As a college student, I understand that sometimes it’s really tough to identify with a specific “wing”, especially considering a lot of us just really don’t care yet. However, this upcoming election is one that I believe will be a complete game changer for so much of our post-graduate lives. To be totally honest with you readers, I don’t believe in swaying college students to my beliefs, I believe that we should all have a chance to an equal education on politics and from there have the ability to choose the wing we identify with most.

So, to preface this article: I am a proud millennial Republican, and my views may not be in exact accordance to everyone else’s. Nonetheless, for those of you college students out there who have no idea which way you want to vote for this upcoming presidential election, take the time to read this article and see how closely you agree or disagree with what I have to say about “Feeling the Bern”.

"This upcoming election is one that I believe will be a complete game changer for so much of our post-graduate lives"

I entered Michigan State University in the fall of 2015 as a journalism major. A major that many would call “pointless”, and although I disagree, I do understand why people would say that a major in journalism is an easy one to attain. For many of our bright, creative minds, the major requires a lot of time-consuming projects, and a deeper understanding of issues such as copy right, plagiarism, and other issues they may encounter in the field. Nonetheless, as much as I loved this major, I found it to be one that was incredibly too easy for a lot of students involved in it. Not because of the teachers or the school, but because I believe that creativity is something that can not be taught, it’s something you rather have or don’t. So for the individuals that lucked out with that creative gene, a journalism major is nothing but a time consuming, project based major.

So after a month of being a journalism major, I decided to switch my major to political science and pre-law. Many factors were attributed to this decision. Primarily, I felt I would do better with classes that I needed to work harder at in order to excel, and also, as bad as it sounds, a lot of what we go to college for isn’t a liberal education. We go to college to attain status in order to better our future success and inevitably our future pay. I knew that by changing my major to pre-law, I would inevitably be gaining a higher future salary than if I had stuck with journalism.

"I knew that by changing my major to pre-law, I would inevitably be gaining a higher future salary"

So what is going to happen to all the college students, who are currently working their butts off to attain an intense undergraduate degree? What’s going to happen to all the college students who intend on going on to graduate school, medicine school, or law school once Bernie Sanders gets into office? Well, to all my friends out there who intend on taking on 8 years of college education, and thousands of dollars of student loans. Save it. You’re going to need that money to pay for all the tax plans Bernie Sanders has in store for us.

To exemplify this, let’s say that I end up finishing my undergraduate degree at Michigan State, which ends up totaling about $200,000 on top of attaining a law degree which will cost around another $200,000, leaving me in a thousands of dollars in student loans. Now, you would think that I would be going out in the world and be making bank as a lawyer, which in terms of the general United States population a typical starting salary for a lawyer is fairly high. Let’s say my starting salary is $130,150, which is the lowest income salary for Bernie Sanders 32.2% tax bracket. From this I would be paying $39,305 in taxes to the government, this leaves me with $90,845 to pay for the thousands of dollars of student loans I have attained, on top of all the living costs that will amount. Also take into account that after I graduate law school I will be about 24 to 25 years old, so I am only one year from being completely on my own financially, considering your parents are obliged to pay for your health insurance, (an issue that requires a whole other article to rant about), until you’re 26. This gives me no time to make my way up the ranks and earn a better position in order to pay for health insurance, I will be swimming in student debt, and because of these two large factors, although I’m supposed to have an income of $130,150, I will probably live in a small apartment that’s decorated with the furniture from my grandma’s old home.

"I will be swimming in student debt"

Now let’s take the hypothetical situation that I never switched out of my journalism major. I end up graduating in four years, basically debt free because my parents paid for my undergraduate degree, and by the time I’m 24 to 25 I’ve attained a mediocre status at a broadcast company. Let’s say my starting salary is about $95,000, which is in Bernie Sanders 27.7% tax bracket. Of this amount, I would pay $25,840 in taxes and would end up with around $69,160 at the end of the year. Now this would almost set me on a better track, I have no student loans to pay, I have years between my graduation and being completely financially alone in order to save money for my own health insurance, and essentially I am shy of $20,000 yearly. Although realistically, that money would only be spent on the college loans I owe and maybe a slightly nicer apartment.

Nonetheless, the point from this I’m trying to make is that why the heck should I spend the next eight years of my life pushing myself through some brutally tough academia when in the end the only big difference is about $20,000, money that would inevitably have to be spent on student loans. Why wouldn’t I just sit back and relax these next four years with a program that was much easier on me? If Bernie Sanders gets into office, I won’t have to worry about that $20,000 difference, because why the heck would I work harder when there are government programs that can help me out. I mean really, why should I want to work harder for such a small amount of money in the big scope of things?

"Why the heck should I spend the next eight years of my life pushing myself... when in the end the only big difference is about $20,000"

Ideologies such as these are what sets the public back into societal decay. People become complacent with their status and don’t want to work harder or longer in order to see greater success because why would they when the big government will inevitably take care of them. In my opinion, that’s not the American Dream. That’s not what was intended for this country.

"That's not the American Dream"

American ideologies date back to the ideas that we are a class system, not a caste system, and ideally, we should be a meritocracy. With insane tax brackets and minimum wage increases, Bernie Sanders will only be taking away from the American Dream. So, while many college students may be “Feeling the Bern” and like the initial ideas laid out by Senator Sanders, in our post-graduation lives, we will only be “Feeling the Bern” in our wallets.