Newt Gingrich Says College Students Should Have Jobs, But Did He?

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says college students are being coddled, but his own educational record doesn't exactly elicit images of a person who had to struggle to make ends meet while earning a degree.

"Students take fewer classes per semester. They take more years to get through. Why? Because they have free money," Gingrich said in a speech to local Republicans in Florida, according to the Washington Post. "I would tell students: 'Get through as quick as you can. Borrow as little as you can. Have a part-time job.' But that's very different from the culture that has grown up in the last 20 years."

But as the Post notes, Gingrich himself took a different path during college, according to a 1995 Vanity Fair article.

According to the report, Gingrich leaned on family members for money and said he didn't want to get a job while in school.

Gingrich's college experience also included a stint as a history professor at West Georgia College. The Wall Street Journal reports that while working at Georgia College, Gingrich was "often absent as he pursued political goals" and that he "spent little time teaching history."

But perhaps he's just waiting for the right time to exercise his teaching chops: According to Inside Higher Ed, Gingrich previously pledged that, if elected president, he would teach a free online course from the White House.