Clinton and Richardson Push Plans to Cut College Costs

[incapsulated]

PLYMOUTH, N.H., Oct. 11 — The Democratic presidential candidates jostled for attention on the education front on Thursday, laying out proposals devised to appeal squarely to middle-class voters by easing the burden of paying for a college education.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, on a two-day swing through New Hampshire, promised to provide students with a $3,500 tuition tax credit and increase Pell grants, which help middle- and low-income students pay for college.

Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, campaigning nearby in Manchester, N.H., also addressed the issue of college costs, proposing that students be made eligible for two years of free tuition at a public university for every year they devote to public service.

The plan was part of a wider set of education proposals he put forward on Thursday, including calling for elimination of the federal No Child Left Behind act, instituting universal preschool and adding more money to Head Start programs.

Many of the leading Democratic candidates’ plans for education changes share similar ideas for improving the nation’s public schools and increasing access to higher education. They are usually centered on expanding early childhood education, overhauling the No Child Left Behind law, increasing aid to college students and providing more support to public school teachers.

I think this is an important issue. Remember issues? :P

[Clintonista2]

1. I was under the impression that the "Clinton cackle" WAS an important issue!

:eyes:

[silverojo]

2. All very well and good

But what good is an education going to do anybody, when all our jobs are shipped overseas?

Seems to me we need to stop the outsourcing, or else we'll end up with a lot of well-educated people on the unemployment line. :(

[incapsulated]

3. It's all important

But this one bothers me. The cost of a college education has gone up while federal assistance has been cut back and the idea that kids starting out life with tens of thousands of dollars of debt becoming the norm is just unacceptable.

[Captain Angry]

6. Outsourcing isn't going to stop.

As long as people in management do not value the work of the people, it can be moved elsewhere.

We have well educated people in the unemployment line because it is cheaper for a company to pay somebody somewhere else to do the work. That company perceives the difference in quality to be worth the difference in cost.

Now, if we were actually creating jobs here in the United States, we'd have a use for the educated folks. Tech support can be done by a 50 year old with no computer experience. When the training is good enough, and the resources are good enough, why pay an American more than somebody else for the same level of work? That's why I'm unemployed. My company decided that they could pay somebody to try and do my old job as well as I did, but for a lot less money.

That ship has sailed, and forcing a company to hire Americans to do tech support won't work. How many people do you know that will for $7.25/hr being abused by customers because their computer broke? If that's the amount of money it takes to keep the price of the computer low enough to sell it at Wal-Mart or at least stay competitive, guess what? That job is heading to India for $3.50/hr.

It sucks, but it's reality. People want $300.00 computers and $5,000.00 worth of service with it.

[WCGreen]

4. All that will do is increase the cost of education by the amount of

the pell grant and the tax credits...

There is no connect to the true cost of an education between the College and the student...

Tuition will continue to increase simply because it can, not because of market pressure...

The question that should be asked is why are costs of public universities rising so fast...

[incapsulated]

5. I agree

And what can be done to stop it.

[WCGreen]

7. Well, for one thing, have a little more oversight on the Student

Loan industry that has sprung up...

They are as agressive and ruthless as the Sub-Prime lenders...