Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Hillary Clinton on Higher Ed

A Q&A (via email) in the Chronicle.
On student loans:
Too many borrowers around the country are overly burdened or treated unfairly as they repay their student loans. ...More than ever, students are financing their college costs by borrowing as the cost of college is rising and grants are becoming less readily available. The burden of student loan debt alone can put people in economic handcuffs and force them out of important, but low-paying professions, such as social workers, teachers and police officers.

On lifelong learning:More than 50 percent of students are now going to college later in life, working full or part time while they attend, or raising children, and this is particularly true among minority populations. I also hear from people all along the campaign trail who want to upgrade their skills midway through their careers so they can change jobs and grow professionally. I believe we have to create a robust system of lifelong learning to help prepare every American to compete in the global economy...I also want to find ways to support colleges that are designing night courses and other flexible scheduling, like compressed courses, and providing child care, in order to make it possible for all students even those with significant family responsibilities to complete their degrees.

This is all right on, although she doesn't come out for the eradication of FFELP loans as Edwards and Obama have. And when she talks about college costs, she only talks about increasing federal aid. I'm increasingly convinced that that's just not gonna do it: there needs to be some cooperation between states, universities, and the federal government to hold down tuition increases.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do you expect. Democrats - especially populists - think the solution for everything is throwing money at it... provided that money is taken from people who are successful.

Anonymous said...

I don't hate taxes... I hate public waste and the feeling of entitlement that liberal dogma instills in those who would have, at one point in time, fixed their own problems rather than being completely reliant on an expensive, inefficient, bureaucratic behemoth that is financed by the 50% of Americans who DO fix their own problems and are then rewarded by higher taxes. It's not the amount I hate, it's the reason for it that I dislike so much.

Anonymous said...

1) Hillary thinks taxpayers should finance student loans. So now, they have cheap student loans and everyone has higher taxes. Thanks Hitlary...

2) If you're going into a profession that will make $30,000 for 15 years, DON'T ATTEND A PRIVATE SCHOOL THAT COSTS $60,000 A YEAR.

3) Less competition = higher prices. Thanks again, Hitlary.

4) Everyone bitches and moans about paying back student loans. Noone bitches and moans about colleges raising tuition 14% a year. Your student loan payments are high BECAUSE SCHOOLS CHARGE A LOT OF MONEY FOR TUITION.

Anonymous said...

Not everyone needs to go to college. It is possible to make $60k/year as a nurse and that requires only 2 years of school.
If you can't afford to go to college, work a couple years full time and then go to a public university. Or go to university right away with a fat loan. I left UC Berkeley with only a $20k debt because I lived frugally. $20k can be easily paid off in a year if you don't get an engineering or similarly useful degree.

No one should feel entitled to a higher education. This sense of entitlement is one reasons why other national like China and India will overtake us.
Take some personal responsibility people.