Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry yesterday proposed a plan to give college-tuition assistance to any student who performs two years of public service.
“At the heart of my ’Compact with the Next Generation’ is this simple promise: If you’re willing to do right by America, then America is willing to do right by you,” Mr. Kerry said. “That means we will say to hundreds of thousands of Americans each year: If you will serve your country, we will pay for your college education.”
The Massachusetts senator said his plan will initially involve more than 200,000 students and top more than 300,000 students within a decade. The 10-year plan will offer college-age Americans financial aid based on the average in-state tuition for schools in their state. Students can, however, attend any university they wish.
Mr. Kerry’s plan will cover enrolled students who may not be able to serve immediately upon entering college.
“The plan will call on these young people to help meet the educational needs of America’s children — including preparation for preschoolers, reading, tutoring for small children and mentoring to prepare teenagers for college,” Kerry spokesman Mark Komblau said.
AmeriCorps Chief Executive Eli Segal and Democratic Leadership Council President Bruce Reed praised the idea, calling it the largest expansion of public-service incentives in the nation’s history.
“Once Senator Kerry’s proposition is made the law of the land, it will mean more people being involved in community service at one time than all of the AmeriCorps programs before it,” Mr. Segal said.
Both men said the $13 billion plan is fiscally conservative and would add no new costs to the federal budget.
According to Mr. Reed, the plan would pay for itself by restructuring the way the federal government subsidizes the tuition for people in the program.
The current service-for-college-aid structure allows banks to “lobby” for an interest rate that guarantees a preset profit from loans taken out by the government, which Mr. Kerry argues forces overpayment of the loans.
Under the Kerry plan, the market would set the interest rate, which forces banks to bid in an open auction, allowing the government to chose the best loan, according to Mr. Kerry’s campaign Web site.
Mr. Reed said the Treasury Department has reviewed similar plans before under President Clinton, but changing the structure has been nearly impossible.
“Experts at the Treasury Department who looked at this absolutely affirmed that a market-based system could work without the government having to dictate profits,” he said.
Mr. Reed added that the Kerry plan is a far cry from the service initiatives under the Bush administration. He said since September 11, more people want to serve their communities, but President Bush has underfunded programs while synonymously allowing the market to price young people out of higher education.
“The Bush administration has been one long near-death experience to national service,” Mr. Reed said.
The plan will operate solely out of the AmeriCorps system and will not affect Pell grants and other financial-aid programs, Mr. Segal said.
AmeriCorps was founded in 1993 during the Clinton administration to coordinate service programs. And the Democratic Leadership Council, of which Mr. Clinton was a chairman before he was president, was founded in 1985 to reshape the values and policies of the Democratic Party.
Mr. Kerry introduced the plan as the focal point of his “Change starts with U” university tour this week.
Officials with the Bush campaign said Mr. Kerry is playing political “catch-up” with a policy the president is already engaged in and an audience that favors the incumbent.
“College students realize that Kerry’s plan for $1.9 trillion in new government spending doesn’t add up and would mean higher taxes for every American,” the campaign said.
“Kerry hasn’t come clean about what programs he would cut and what taxes he would raise to fund his reckless spending proposals, and a campus tour with bands and celebrities isn’t going to change that.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.