Obama’s Fight to Make College More Affordable

[Barack Obama-sac]

In order to fully understand the true answer behind whether or not our country should make college more affordable for everyone, one must look at the different aspects behind the issue. Is the cost of tuition and fees steadily rising? How much of college loans make up of today’s educational financing? Is the so called “dream” of attending college slowly diminishing to certain people? These are all questions that must be taken into consideration in order to see how well the country is actually doing with college aid.

In the year of 2003, “the average total cost of attending a private school jumped to $26,854.” This is over half of the average American family income which is ridiculous! Behind this, the average undergraduate student “racks” up student debts, totaling about $19,000. The prices of tuition and fees far exceed the affordability costs of most American people. In fact, from 2002 through 2003, tuition and fees at public colleges and universities soared by 14.1% while community colleges rose by 13.8% and private four year schools by 6%. These increases “rocket far above the actual inflation rate”. The cost of tuition and fees based on today’s economy is one reason why I believe that our government should make college more affordable for everyone.

Student aid is another aspect which persuaded me to agree with making college more affordable for everyone. According to CQ Researcher, “college loans make up about 70% of higher education financing today.” On top of this, “60% of all college graduates leave college with debt”. Why don’t we just direct our upcoming fellow American workforce to the loan companies since that’s what exactly is happening! Today, “merit scholarships are replacing most need based aid,” which is doing nothing but making it nearly impossible for low income families and minorities to attend college.

Senator Barack Obama feels strongly about reformation in regards to aid in higher education. Obama believes that “we should put college education within the reach of every American.” I feel passionate about his quote. Every American deserves the right to better his/her lives through a college education which is vital in today’s society. He has proposed many educational benefits that will take place during his presidency. One of Barack’s major plan is to put college within reach of every American is to create the American Opportunity Tax Credit. “This fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university.” Although this tax credit will ensure stimulation in college enrolment, “recipients of this credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of public service a year, either during the school year or over the summer months.”

Expanding Pell Grants for low-income students is another one of Barack’s main solutions to educational financing. “Two decades ago, the maximum Pell Grand covered 55 percent of costs at a public four-year college, compared with only 32 percent today.” Obama has been working in a bipartisan way with the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee in order “to achieve an increase in the Pell Grant to $5,400 over the next few years” as president. Specifically, Senator Barack Obama ensures that the award will keep pace with the rising cost of college inflation.

Works Cited

Barack Obama and Joe Biden: Making College Affordable For Everyone. 23 Oct. 2008
http://obama.3dcn.net/2893b6bef4df86552_ogk8mv3c7.pdf .

Brundage, Amy. Obama Fights to Make college More Affordable. 2007. 22 Oct. 2008
http://obama.senate.gov/press/070907-obama_fights_to_1/

Dannenberg, Michael. “A college fund for every student.” The Boston Globe. 23 Aug. 2008 Pg. A15. LexisNexis. San Antonio coll. Lib., San Antonio, TX. 10 Oct, 2008 65600656

“Obama Promises Improvement To Education” Los Angeles News. 20 Oct. 2007 29 Oct. 2008http://cbs.com/local/Barack.Obama.Education.2.537042.html?detect=false

Roloson, Nick. Barack Obama: A College Student’s Best Friend. Weblog. 6 Jul. 2008. 21 Oct. 2008 http://stjohnsdemocrats.wordpress.com

Written by John Suchy

[Marissa Silva-Garcia]

I cant believe how much tuition has actually went up. I get financial aid but even then, prices for books sometimes comes out more than tuition! I feel so bad for the people who go into debt because of SCHOOL! It just sounds crazy. Its like your graduation comes up, you get your diploma and along with may as well have a check stapled to it that says "OWE $20,000!" How can you be fully joyous while being in debt? Obamas ideas sound good, it just needs to hurry up and happen. I mean I know the solution cannot be rushed but it is a major problem. We are supposed to be the land of oppertunities! I like the idea of community service for tuition money, its pretty much a win-win situation. But like Bowmen said, where is the money to provide this going to come from?

[Monique]

The facts presented on the issue of financing college education overwhelm me. I can relate to most Americans with college debt. I am not even out of my first four years of college and already have loans to pay off. I’m hoping that a better college education will result in a higher paying job, but if I keep collecting loans than my future income is pretty much spent. I think that financial aid should be made more accessible. Student loans are helpful for the time being but most students don’t realize how much they will struggle to pay them off in the future, especially with the high interest rates. I feel that something should be done about the outrageous interest rates. I think the plans and actions that Obama plans on taking are very hopeful and considerable. I hope that higher education is made available and affordable to all Americans.

[Laura Ann Hernandez]

I most definately think something should be done about these ridiculous prices to be going to college. Right now Im only in community college, I could only imagine how stressfull its going to be when its time to go on to a university. Money is just a big problem with everything now a days, but education shouldn't be one of them. Your going to school to learn and explore the options we have, not worry about your tuition bill. If theres someone out there willing to help improve college tutition Im all for it! Vote Obama!! :)

[Laura]

Last night i was just watching an mtv special presentation with barack obama.He was being asked questions that viewers had previouslly submitted.Between all of those The question of what he plans to do about college tuition and all of that.He was talking about how he understands what students go through to try and get an education he said when his wife and him got married the money they owed on their loans combined was even more than their mortgage.And see that's a thing that makes people wonder should i really go to college because what if you take out all those loans out you freshmen year or something then you come to find that college wasn't really for you i mean your still going to owe thousands of dollars and maybe with the salary you make it just won't be enough to support you and payback.Hopefully obama can help all struggling college students ,like myself get an education that can better our futures.

[Alex Jones-Duffey]

Wow. I definitely new that college prices were rising but I had no idea of the extreme amount it was going up in just a short year. This essay was very well written and gave me more insight to the actual numbers that back up my beliefs. I have yet to take out any loans for school but it's looking like I may have to in the near future if things don't change from the way they are now. My education is top priority, as it is for many american youths, and it's nauseating to know how much debt people put themselves into to achieve it. I know a couple people that were still paying off they'recollege debts well into their thirties.

[Josue I. Cruz-Lambert]

Hey I really liked your essay, I read another one about the same topic and all the information was really opinion with very little facts. Yours actually presents the evidence and explains things in a clear manner. I feel that people should earn things so that they appreciate them and by having scholarship recipients do 100 community hours service it would be a way to give back to the community and in their benefit. It would probably be a way for the people receiving the money that they truly want and deserve the scholarship rather than just be giving out money. While 4,000 dollars may seem enough or too little, I think it is a great amount. My opinion on this is base that if a person goes to a four year university then the government is helping them with 4,000 and they can find other means to pay the other 32,000. As for families that cannot afford a four year college then they can attend a Community College and have money left over from the 4,000. Although I hope that is not the case, giving money to people more than they need to use tends to get the economy upset.

[Robert Melita]

There are several good comments about this issue, education and the rising cost.
The rising cost of our, tuition, books and the difficulty to acquiring finical aid, has forced many of us to seek financial assistance, as in students loans. This is placing many of us in major finical dept before we even graduate. Neither candidate has actually stated just what their education plan is; it’s sort of a just wait a see issue. After November 4th I guess well get to see which candidate will holds the office of President of these United States. And what if anything will be done or even brought up in their coming term. They both speak of how they will bring back, how we once were. Funny thing, the American people did not do this to us, our politicians that hold office did, they are the ones that have put us in the position that we are in today.

[Alysa]

I think it's wonderful that Obama wants to help us pay for college. I mean, really, who doesn't want free money? Especially when we are going into debt just so we can learn(which, to be honest, I never dreamed of doing) However, Obama has any wonderful plans but we have to remember that he is not bringing a fortune into this country. WE fund his ideas. WE are the money behind his vision. As much as I would love to accept a four thousand dollar stipend to help clot my bleeding bank account, I can't. Because I would not be getting free money, I would be getting my tax dollars in another form. Do I want taxes raised on my friends, family and neighbors(and myself) so I can get a small amount to help start my fee for college? No, I don't. I don't see how this plan is anything other than another speech that sounds great...but will end up very differently than we first believed.

[Eric Sawyer]

I think senator Obama has a good point about helping students pay for college. The fact that 60% of students that graduate college are in debt from there education is a scary thing. I thought the point of college was to obtain a better financial future, not put yourself in debt from the start. Even though there is financial aid, there is that margin in between being able to pay for college with out any thought and being qualified for financial aid, which seems to be a very large margin. I like the fact that Obama mentions that 100 hours of public service is required. That is a good way to get the communities a little extra help, and just a great thing in general to help out. The thought of everyone being helped with college tuition is a great idea. How or if it will work out in the future if Obama wins is another subject.

[Maria]

As we all know college tuition is very high and absolutely ridiculous. The tuition for only one semester is very expensive and sometimes unaffordable for some students. That is why so many students do not go to college right away after graduating from high school, some of them they start working and save up money so they can pay for there education later on. Other of them get loans which regularly have pretty high rates interest and they end up in debt way even before they graduate from college, and when they graduate some of them can not even pay there debts which made there situation worst. Even thought some students are lucky enough to get financial aid, but sometimes they don’t get that much money from financial aid but at least they get some money to pay some of there education, now the Senator Barack Obama has a great plan on giving students $4000 thousand dollars for there education but in order for them to receive the money they must do 100 hours on public service a year which is not that bad so lets just hope Obama wins because he has better plan for helping the college students with their college tuition than John Mccain.