Senator McCain has put forth an idealistic platform for higher education with few specifics and many questions. His six planks are:
1. Prepare for the 21st Century in Higher Education- Senator McCain, in an effort to maintain the quality of higher education in the US, plans to support innovative approaches to education and eliminate unnecessary regulation. I have a request for more details sent to the campaign for more details on this.
2. Improve Information for Parents- The federal government collects a lot of information from universities each year, and Senator McCain hopes to provide this data for parents. I am interested to find out whether he will ask universities to provide more information than they already do.
3. Simplify Higher Education Tax Benefits- Senator McCain highlights that there are many tax benefits and programs that have been passed over the years. He hopes to consolidate these programs to make sure students and their families are more likely to apply.
4. Simplify Federal Financial Aid- There are a number of financial aid and scholarship programs available to students, and Senator McCain hopes to consolidate these. I have requested from the campaign further information on this. Specifically, which programs will be consolidated? Also, will there be cuts to the amount of aid provided with the consolidation of programs?
5. Improve Research by Eliminating Earmarks- One of Senator McCain's major talking points on the campaign trail has been ethics reforms and the elimination of earmarks. Senator McCain explains that the elimination of earmarks on research bills will open up more dollars for higher education institutions.
6. Fix the Student Lending Programs- Senator McCain hopes to expand the lender-of-last resort capabilities of the federal loan programs so that students can get last minute loans from the federal government as opposed to lender-sharks. He also hopes to negotiate with the private sector to ensure greater access to higher education and less debt for Americans.
Notably, Senator McCain was absent on sponsorship of the GI Bill for Post 9/11 Veterans, which would cover costs of four yours of higher education for veterans, after asked by Senator Webb (VA- Dem) to join. (List of signatories)
- Eliminate the FAFSA- Senator Obama's plan proposes elimination outright of the FAFSA form. He proposes that this 127-question form can be replaced with a simply check box on the filed tax form releasing data to be used to develop a student's estimated family contribution (EFC). His plan also proposes a new calculation of the EFC, although his plan lacks specifics on the details for this (I have placed a call into the campaign and will update as I learn more).
- American Opportunity Tax Credit- Senator Obama's trademark higher education talking point speaks to the $4,000 tax credit that students will recieve if they dedicate a certain number of hours each week to community service. His plan lacks specifics on the requirements of the community service. I have also placed questions into the campaign to learn more about who is eligible for the tax credit and also if the tax credit can be rolled over to future years if one's taxes do not exceed $4,000.
- Pell Grants- Obama's plan explains that he supports increases in Pell Grants like he has in the past as a Senator, but no specific amount or plan is explained.
- Community College Partnerships- Senator Obama proposes a plan to work with community colleges across the nation to 1) focus research on needed skills in the workforce, 2) support and help implement new degree programs, and 3) reward institutions which graduate more students. The federal level is a far distance from the community college level, so I am interested to see how this would be implemented.
- Early Assessment Program- California and a few other states have implemented Early Assessment Programs that help students find out in high school where they need to improve to attend college. Such programs are optional tests and are administered in sophomore and junior years of high school. President Obama would provide provide up to $25 million in matching funds to individual states each year to implement such programs.
Notably, Senator Obama also supported the DREAM Act in 2007 (Text / Wikipedia), which broadens accessibility for higher education for illegal aliens who have been present in the United States before age 16.
Senator Obama also was a co-sponsor of the new GI Bill.
To read Senator Obama's extended plan, click here.
Overall
Both Senator McCain and Senator Obama present vague plans for higher education. Senator Obama has presented more specific ideas, although they do not seem to provide either the comprehensive details that would support a realistic change in affordability for higher education in America. The good news--both candidates have two months to put forth more concrete plans for higher education before we vote.
What are your thoughts on the plans? Have you run accross other information?
Posts
5 comments:
It really surprised me to see that McCain had not sponsored the new GI Bill. It seems that someone who supports sending our kids to war to help the country should also be concerned with educating them into the competitive worldwide workforce after they return home. I guess you don't need to college if your going to be in Iraq for the next hundred years.
I think that it's great that both candidates have some sort of plan for higher education. I believe that tuition and affordability are the number one issues facing Maryland college students. We should continue researching ways both candidates plan to address this. I think it is appealing that Obama wants to eliminate the FAFSA, which would alleviate much of the bureaucracy associated with financial aid, and that he is proposing a $4,000 credit for those who commit to community service. McCain wanting to simplify financial aid and fixing the student lending programs could also help us better afford our college educations.
Thanks so much for posting this! I was really glad to see that Obama's plan was so specific; it seems very likely to enable more of the population to attend college, as opposed to McCain's - props especially for the "getting rid of Fafsa" idea, the Dream Act, and the volunteering tax credit. That could certainly help a lot of people, especially those who struggle to afford college in the first place.
McCain's "platform" included a lot of lovely rhetoric, but nothing that would indicate he has really put any thought into how he would begin to solve many of problems he claims to care about.
@ kati
Thanks for the comments. I am working on getting more specifics from the McCain campaign and will report back if I hear anything new.
It is not possible to get rid of the FAFSA. First, the IRS is not allowed to share information with any other branch of government. The information from the IRS could not calculate the house hold size or number in college which makes a difference in the EFC. Also, the age of the oldest parent in the house hold makes a difference.
Post a Comment