Higher education funding is the issue that hits most of us where it hurts, especially when the e-mail from the bursar’s office pops up.
This edition of the O’Collegian political page will outline the candidates’ policies on education and provide a cheat sheet on candidate positions on several issues.
Unfortunately, it seems that financial aid for college students is not a high priority for any of the candidates running, Democrat or Republican.
Congress debates federal
funding for education but the president approves or vetoes the final budget.
Charles Bruce, director of OSU scholarships and financial aid, said the legislative and executive branches of government can have a huge impact on financial aid from year to year.
“The president has to have leadership,” Bruce said. “Leadership and working with legislators to increase Pell grants will be important. There’s so many different issues, I know some people tend to be one-issue voters, but we certainly need to look at all the issues before we cast our ballots. As state employees, we just want to work with whoever is willing to help the students.”
Mike Huckabee: “We need to test teachers as well as students, replace teachers who aren’t competent, and impose reasonable waiting periods for teachers to gain tenure. We should provide bonuses and forgive student loans for high-performing teachers to work in low-performing schools. Just as there are executives in the corporate world who specialize in turning around failing companies, we need teachers who are “turn-around specialists” for failing schools.”
http://www.mikehuckabee.com
John McCain: The primary front-runner doesn’t have a section on his Web site for education, “Higher” or not.
The last mention of college on the Web site “ontheissues.org” came in 1997.
Mitt Romney: We did something that was really extraordinary. We said to every kid that does well on these exams that we put in place before you can graduate from high school, we’re going to give you a John and Abigail Adams scholarship, four years tuition-free to our state university or state colleges for all the kids that graduate in the top quarter of their class.”
Source: 2007 Republican primary debate on Univision.
Hillary Clinton: “We were making progress in narrowing the gap between high tuition and costs and what the average student and his or her family could pay. We ought to be making sure every qualified student can go to college and pursue his or her dreams. And you know, there’s a very easy way to do that. All we have to do is cut all the tax breaks for oil companies, pharmaceutical companies and billionaires and put it into student aid.”
(2006)
According to her campaign Web site, Clinton plans to create a new $3,500 college tax credit, increase the maximum Pell Grant, fund community colleges through a $500 million investment, create a graduation fund to increase college graduation rates and increase to $10,000 the college scholarship for those who participate in AmeriCorps full time for one year.
Barack Obama:
One of the first bills Obama introduced in the Senate was to increase the maximum Pell Grant from $4,050 to $5,100.
According to his campaign Web site, “As president, Obama would eliminate wasteful subsidies to private student lenders, which will save nearly $6 billion dollars per year, and invest the savings in additional student aid.”
Source: Campaign website, http://www.barackobama.com, “Resource Flyers” Aug 26, 2007
In 1998, Obama said he supported providing state-funded tuition and fees to any Illinois student who attends a public college or university as long as they maintain a B average.
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