<p>A good article on a new plan by the Obama administration to make college more affordable.
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President Obama's higher-education proposals are ambitious, as he proposed yesterday a change in the Pell Grant system would transform the financial aid landscape for millions of prospective college students while expanding federal authority to a degree that even Democrats concede is controversial.</p>
<p>The proposed plan would expand the Pell Grant program, making it an entitlement similar to Government funded programs such as Medicare and Social Security. The primary effort would be the consolidation of student lending, giving the U.S. Department of Education primary control over federally funded student loans. This proposal has the private loan industry in uproar at the thought of losing the average $50+ billion dollars to over 6.4 million students on an average year.
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<p>It would expand loans.....
[quote]
Additionally, participation in the Perkins loan program would be expanded beyond the current 1,800 institutions to 4,400 colleges and universities country-wide, increasing the number of students able to receive the loans by 2.7 million.
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<p>and it would improve America's educational standing among the world.
[quote]
Obama's aim with the proposal is to improve the access to college and various post-secondary school options for lower-income students for whom college or vocational training can be the primary factor in improving their economic future. President Obama stated that he aims to have the United States to once again lead the world in the proportion of college graduates, a position the country had long held, though now the country ranks seventh for the 25 to 34 age group. He calls for the change to be immediate, and that 2010 is the year to succeed - Obama also called for every American to attend a post-secondary institution of some type.
<p>Why? The country needs more people skilled in the trades and fewer people in debt with degrees they will never find full employment with. College is not the only route to become a well-educated citizen…but it is undeniably the most expensive route these days! I’ve yet to meet a mason or an electrician who needs retraining mid-career because their job just got outsourced to another country!</p>
<p>Happy to hear more kids will get Perkins loans. I think it would be better to give the middle class some relief with the FFEL elimination “windfall” money and offer more in the way of subsidized Staffords though. At least it would be a start toward cutting the amount of debt students are accumulating.</p>
<p>Our president needs some education on the subject. First of all, how can, “every American … attend a post-secondary institution of some type”, when the high school dropout rate hovers close to 30%? Perhaps focusing on the dropouts would have greater impact on preparing our country’s youth for the 21st century. Another way to look at this is that the country now provides access to a free education through high school and almost 30% don’t fully avail themselves of that opportunity. Continuing on, another 30% graduate from high school but do not continue on to college. About 40 out of 100 go on to a post-secondary institution of some kind, half of whom never get a degree. (See figure 1. in this publication: <a href=“http://www.wiche.edu/Policy/Changing_direction/documents/ThinkingOutsideTheBox.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wiche.edu/Policy/Changing_direction/documents/ThinkingOutsideTheBox.pdf</a> ) Of students that start 9th grade, only 20% end up with a degree from a post-secondary institution. Lack of access and high costs fall well short of explaining why kids are not going to college or do not get degree. It seems that there are some more fundamental problems, such as motivation. Why dilute education dollars by spending it on kids that don’t really want to go to college?</p>
<p>the dropout rate in Philadelphia is astronomical. Something like 40% of kids that start 9th grade, do NOT graduate. How about there is some rule that says if you don’t graduate HS, you can’t get welfare and foodstamps. And no, having a baby won’t supercede that rule.</p>
<p>And guess what. I don’t think you could DOUBLE the amount of money spent on education and change the fact that WAY TOO MANY people do not WANT to be educated. you could give some of these people a state of the art school and it would NOT matter. My mother taught 1st grade and she could tell you after the first week of class who was going to make it and who wasn’t. the problems begin WAY before HS. The problems can begin at BIRTH.</p>
<p>Sk8trmom, I think Obama includes a year of trade school after HS as post graduate. Where I live the HS standards are purportedly being raised, making it more difficult to integrate trade programs with HS. The few school disctricts doing it successfully, if you can call it that, are no longer giving regular HS diplomas, but the kids get a GED along with trades. </p>
<p>Sue, I am not prepared to write children off in 1st grade.</p>
<p>I don’t think they should be written off, my point is that the groundwork is set for a child before they step foot in a classroom</p>
<p>My mother encountered children who had NEVER held a writing instrument or SEEN a book.</p>
<p>In MANY of these cases it would have been far better for the child to have been REQUIRED to go to preschool for at least 2 years (assuming a program is available for them) than to have spent the previous 5-6 years doing NOTHING.</p>
<p>Well sue, I certainly agree with that, and would like to see Head Start and similiar programs adequately funded. Of course, IMHO, there is no substitute for parents who care.</p>
<p>On a completely different track - I wonder if the expansion of the Perkins loan will include other changes such as to the interest rate. In 2010-2011 and 2011-1012 school years the subsidized Stafford interest rates will drop (to 4.5% then 3.4%) which is lower than the Perkins 5% making it less attractive that the subsidized Stafford.</p>
<p>I’m hoping beyond all hope that when my son graduates in 2 years that he will be able to consolidate and refinance at a lower rate than what the subsidized loans he has now (stafford and perkins). No reason these federally backed loans should have a higher interest rate than the mortgage on a house</p>
<p><imho, there=“” is=“” no=“” substitute=“” for=“” parents=“” who=“” care=“”>>
no laws for that unfortunately, I completely agree with you.</imho,></p>
<p>My son went to a school district, subsidized day care for 3 1/2 years. It was based on income (and since mine was <20K at that time it was a godsend). The teachers were wonderful. I read to my son. ANYone can get books from library for free. </p>
<p>Some people really don’t want to raise kids and our society is bearing the brunt of that</p>
<p>Perkins loans are very often either awarded in addition to Staffords (that is, max Stafford for year in school + Perkins amount) or in lieu of Stafford when the undergrad max has been reached ($57,500 for an independent student). While Perkins loans are very nice, I don’t actually see them lowering debt per se.</p>
<p>Beware consolidating a Perkins loan now … because the consolidation rate is so much higher than the Perkins rate. Maybe it will change in the future when the Stafford rates are lower. But that also raises the point that those with higher rate Staffords & the new lower rate Staffords are also going to have to be careful when consolidating down the road.</p>
<p>I am a fan of universal preschool (never was until I started substitute teaching … and I found that sueinphilly’s mom is telling the gospel truth), increased vocational training options, realistic high school standards (e.g., not every kid should be made to take chem or physics to graduate as they now do in my state), increased opportunities at the community college level, and true efforts to keep tuition costs down.</p>
<p>kay, thanks for clearing the trade school thing up…I know kids who went to (for profit) trade schools who weren’t eligible for federal aid and that was really tough for them. Their only other option was to go military for the training. In NY, kids doing the trades program in school/BOCES should be getting a Regents diploma with Technical Endorsement - at our schools the BOCES program grants them some of the required English and math (I think) credits:
[Regents</a> Requirements](<a href=“http://www.hesc.com/Content.nsf/SFC/1/Regents_Requirements]Regents”>http://www.hesc.com/Content.nsf/SFC/1/Regents_Requirements)</p>
<p>We also have “universal pre-K” where every child is enrolled for at least one year. This changed from the income-based pre-K about 10 years ago and I’m amazed at the level of work they can do in kindergarten as a result - reading and writing their own stories is so engaging for them. When my kids were younger, I used to volunteer extensively at the elementary schools and could also spot the “at risk” kids within seconds of meeting them. Now when I ask about them, I’m sad to hear that many have not lived up to the potential they have. Nurture at school can’t always make up for an unhappy home life.</p>