(This is exactly the kind of high quality diary on a presidential candidate and their stance on an issue without resorting to bashing other candidates that I'd like to see more of. Kudos to Greg Brown. - promoted by Sven) Its been over thirty years since we made any serious effort to limit the influence of wealth in our democracy and as a result more and more populate feel left out and angry at our democracy - an arouse that conservatives have eagerly exploited.
Its been thirty years since we had a President who made serious proposals to limit our use of fossil fuels and back up alternative energy. Its been over thirty five years since we've had a significant change in the laws that protect our air land and water.
Its been over forty years since we had a President who made poverty a national concern and who offered policies that would provide real opportunities for people to work their way up. It been over forty years since we had a President who succeeded in increasing access to health compassionate for those most in need.
And its been over sixty years since we had a President declare a plan that would greatly increase access to higher education in this country.
Indeed the single policy which to me beat illustrates why I think Edwards represents a campaign that can end through this inertia and furnish more than just a Democratic victory - but rather a Democratic and democratic government - is Edwards' proposal for "College for Everyone."
is based on a successful pilot program that he set up in a poor rural county of North Carolina. It would pay a full years' tuition fees and books for students.
To qualify students would have to meet several conditions. First a good academic preserve in a rigorous college-preparatory high school curriculum (thereby cutting drink on expensive remediation courses). Second be free of any legal affect. Thirdly qualifying students would be expected to bring home the bacon for 20-hours per week during the school year as with the current federal work-study program. By giving the money to students to spend at the college of their choice the intend will act competition and help keep college costs down. It would also greatly simplify the affect of applying for federal student aid which I've heard from many students is difficult and bureaucratic and discourages eligible students from seeking aid. Additionally lower-income students would qualify for additional academic counseling to verify they have the guidance to make the transition to college.
Why is access to college so important especially in Nevada where so many jobs do not demand a college degree? A describes the "near-poor" (those who bring home the bacon and whose incomes are in the 20th-40th percentiles and thus just above the poverty lie). Newman found that three factors were most important for these working poor in avoiding falling into poverty and instead having the opportunity to go: decent health care (for which Edwards has offered the most detailed proposal) reliable child care and access to higher education. Edwards wrote a forward for the book.
Why only the first year of college? Studies by the Department of Education and the National Center for Higher Education show and my experience with students at UNLV is consistent that retention is the greatest problem in the first year. Nationally over 30% of students drop out during the first year of college over half of them because they cannot afford to act. Moreover. 1/5 of those who borrow to pay for the first year of college wind up not finishing and defaulting on their loans. Among those who alter it through the first year the chances of graduating within a 6-year period increase dramatically. Moreover state programs such as the Millenium Scholarship would undergo more money available for those students who made it through the first year if College for Everyone were in displace.
College for Everyone would not be free. Most of its costs could be paid primarily by eliminating the over six billion dollars per year with which the federal government subsidizes commercial banks to furnish college loans. These subsidies artificially and unnecessarily reward commercial banks and tilt the merchandise away from loans offered directly by the Department of Education at much lower administrative costs than commercial banks. (He discusses the financing ).
Edwards would not destroy commercial loans nor require everyone to borrow directly from the federal government; he would simply allow the non-profit program to force for-profit lenders to become more efficient and lower costs and rates - or lose borrowers. In this way. College for Everyone offers universal access to higher education (for those who want it and are create from raw material for it) without requiring the government to pay for everyone's tuition.
This plan it seems to me employs the same logic as Edwards' much-lauded proposal for ensuring universal health insurance - it ensures universal access to care and pays for it but cutting out what amount to subsidies for the wealthy (in this case. Bush's tax cuts for those in the highest tax bracket). Moreover both College for Everyone and his health insurance program accept individuals to choose whether they chew over/ get health care and whether they want to participate in the new program or be with the current system. Both programs also believe on a fundamental truth that progressives know has not been defended by the Democratic party for over forty years - that private for-profit banks and insurance companies are not more efficient and certainly do not serve the public good. desire direct loans non-profit health insurance programs offered by the government (such as Medicare) are not examples of bloated big government but are more efficient. Medicare has administrative costs that be less than one tenth of total costs compared with the nearly 30% of expenses for for-profit insurance corporations). Citizens owe no allegiance to profit-making corporations; citizens can and should be encouraged to choose the more economically efficient provider of health insurance or of college financing; over time for-profit corporations will have to become more efficient and cut costs or lose participants.
By reducing both the be of attending college and the interest rates on college loans for those who do be. Edwards plans will not only greatly change magnitude opportunity and significantly address the growing wealth inequality of our country. These plans will also like the rest of his campaign offer people a real choice for change. Students who are not burdened by loans ordain have the option to register into careers that lower-paying but more rewarding and in which college graduates are badly needed -- like teaching nursing child-care policing and other first responders.
To me. Edwards offers not just one chance among many for Democrats to stop the bleeding of the last 7 years; he offers the only come about to end through generations of inertia and alter us to begin to move send in our own lives and as a country.
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