Tim Donelly, az Arizonai Egyetem hírportáljának, a State Press újságírója azt a témát járja körbe, hogy egy havi 1000 dolláros alapjövedelem-program hogyan segítené a felsőoktatásban hallgatókat tanulmányaik során. A “Freedom Dividend” (Szabadság Osztalék) néven futó alapjövedelem program Andrew Yang a Demokrata Párt egyik elnökjelölt-aspiránsának fő programpontja.
The principle of UBI is not asleft-leaningas one might think. In the conservative state of Alaska, residents already receive a type of UBI in the form of an annual dividend in the amount of $1,000 to $2,000, paid for by the taxation of oil and gas revenue.
A form of UBI was also proposed by former Republican President Richard Nixon, when he wanted to grant every low-income family a guaranteed $1,600 a year, which today would be about $10,000 a year. The studies under Nixon’s campaign showed that families who received this benefit did not work less than before.
Receiving the monthly stipend from Yang’s program would help reduce students’ stress when it comes to finances. Some students need to work during college to afford ASU, pay for books and afford a social life — all while managing coursework.
Even financially stable students could benefit from the program by using the stipend to fund study abroad programs or extracurricular activities that may not have been as accessible to them before. It’s possible that there are few personal problems that couldn’t be lessened or fixed with an influx of income to those individuals in our society.