Republican Presidential candidate former, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie smiles during a gathering, Tuesday, June 6, 2023, in Manchester, N.H. Christie filed paperwork Tuesday formally launching his bid for the Republican nomination for president after casting himself as the only candidate willing to directly take on former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

HENNIKER – Continuing his run for the White House, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called attention to the rising cost of college tuition and the country’s education system during his Sept. 12 Town Hall at New England College.

“The role of the federal government in higher education is to make the cost higher,” he said. “They’ve done that by making loan money so liberally available.”

Christie said it took him a decade to pay back the student loans he needed for college at the University of Delaware and for law school at Seton Hall University.

He said his oldest daughter graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2018. At the time, the school’s annual tuition was $61,000. His younger daughter is now a junior at Notre Dame — and tuition has climbed to $81,000.

“I’ve been to that campus, I didn’t see anything that would call for a 33 percent increase in the cost of going there,” said Christie.

Therefore, he said colleges and universities should not be permitted to raise their tuition above the rate of inflation.

“If they do, they should be ineligible for any federal aid,” he said.

According to the Education Data Initiative, the total average cost of attending college is $36,319 per year.

Speaking about the U.S. education system, Christie said that 39 percent of eighth grade students are not reading at grade level.

“Think about that, we spend $400 billion a year on K-12 education in this country and that’s the result we’re getting,” he said. “An uneducated people cannot be a free society, there’s too much that’s required of you.”

Christie also maintained that teachers unions have too much of an influence over the education system.

He said that President Joe Biden promised, during the 2020 campaign, to reopen all the schools within his first 100 days. However, on the second day of Biden’s presidency, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, visited the White House and convinced Biden to put on the brakes.

Christie said that when he became governor of New Jersey, there were 100 teachers in Newark who were barred from the classroom, yet they remained on the payroll.

“They reported to the Central Office in what the Central Office called a rubber room,” he said.

“These teachers were so bad that they thought it was better to pay them to sit there in a room every day and do nothing than to go into a classroom. The unions protected these teachers and prevented the district from firing them.”

Turning his attention to former President Donald Trump, Christie faulted him for not participating in the first Republican debate.

“He’s got to show up at debates, if he doesn’t then I’m going to show up where he is,” said Christie. “This is a guy who is taking advantage of the fact that he lives behind the walls of private clubs and has Secret Service protection.”

Christie said Trump will be hosting an event in California following the second debate, which is slated for Sept. 27.

“I’m going to be someplace where he is between now and the third debate,” said Christie.

He also responded to another Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, who accused him of being “bought and paid for by the GOP establishment.”

“This is what you can do when you’re a 38-year-old guy with no experience,” he said.

“I haven’t been bought and paid for by anybody. I’ve voted in every election unlike Vivek who didn’t vote until three years ago.”

As of Sept, 14, the national polls from Harvard-Harris show Christie with two percent of the vote in the Republican Primary. He is currently tied for sixth place with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott R-SC. Former Vice President Mike Pence is in fifth place with four percent, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is in fourth place with six percent, Ramaswamy is in third place with eight percent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in second place with 10 percent and Trump remains in front with 57 percent.

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