In a momentous occasion, Kanye West kicked off his 2020 presidential campaign on Tuesday afternoon, tweeting about the high cost of education.
West added a "#2020," apparently alluding to his plan to run for president in 2020, which he announced at the MTV Video Music Awards over the summer.
West's mini tweetstorm centered around the cost of college textbooks.
In terms of Kanye, this was a relatively tame string of tweets, and he's actually not wrong on this. The price of college textbooks rose by 1,041 percent since 1977, which was more than three times higher than the rate of inflation, according to NBC News.
Textbooks are just part of the many high costs associated with college, and these high prices can put low-income students at a disadvantage.
In one 2014 survey, about two-thirds of college students said they skipped buying a textbook at some point because of its price, according to Huffington Post.
And, Kanye's right about teacher pay. It's generally low, and with budget cuts in education, teachers also have to pay for extra supplies like classroom tools and decorations. Meanwhile, colleges are hiring many adjunct professors instead of full-time, tenured professors.
Adjunct professors make very small salaries and tend to supplement their incomes with other jobs.
Kanye's right about one more thing.
About 42 million Americans owe a total $1.3 trillion in student loans. Student debt can be crippling and cause a myriad of financial problems as people get out into the real world.
We all know Kanye's got an interest in education -- I mean, just take a look at his album titles. He's been posing questions like this since Late Registration,
Will I make it from the student loans to a Benzo?
Kanye going in on the high cost of education is really not a bad idea for a platform for his 2020 presidential run.
It's certainly been working to get Bernie Sanders the youth vote, though Hillary Clinton got an endorsement from the National Education Association.
Citations: College Textbook Prices Have Risen 1,041 Percent Since 1977 (NBC News), Majority Of Students Have Skipped Buying A College Textbook Because They're Too Expensive (Huffington Post), The College President-to-Adjunct Pay Ratio (The Atlantic), 3 Charts That Show Just How Dire The Student Debt Crisis Has Become (Huffington Post), Late (Genius), Teachers Union Backs Clinton for President (U.S. News & World Report)
