Paying for college may not be an issue which affects everyone directly, but the accessibility of a college education for everyone in this country is crucial to our future. With that in mind, the next President of the United States has an obligation to address the problems that are threatening to keep many college prospects out of the classroom.
I’ve condensed the candidates current stance on student loans, financial aid, and tax credits designed to increase incentives to get a degree.
Hillary Clinton:
* Increase in the Pell Grant maximum. No specifics given at this time.
* FAFSA or Free Application for Federal Student Aid would be eliminated and replaced with a simple check box on income tax returns. Clinton claims the FAFSA is difficult and ultimately discourages students and parents from applying for Federal Aid.
* FFELP or Federal Family Education Loan Program is eliminated and replaced entirely by the Direct Student Loan Program. This cuts subsidies to lenders and banks and moves all federal loans into the hands of the government.
* AmeriCorps Scholarships are increased from $4,725 to $10,000 for full-time participants.
* Hope tax credit increases from $1650 to $3500.
* Colleges are required to provide a college graduation and employment index, an online cost calculator, and must agree to a truth in tuition disclosure.
Read more about Hillary Clinton’s proposal here.
Barack Obama:
* Increase in the Pell Grant maximum. No specifics given at this time.
* FAFSA or Free Application for Federal Student Aid would be eliminated and replaced with a simple check box on income tax returns. Obama also claims the FAFSA is difficult and ultimately discourages students and parents from applying for Federal Aid.
* FFELP or Federal Family Education Loan Program is eliminated and replaced entirely by the Direct Student Loan Program. This cuts subsidies to lenders and banks and moves all federal loans into the hands of the government.
* Higher Education tax credit is increased to $4000 replacing the Hope tax credit of $1650. In addition, anyone claiming the Higher Education tax credit will be required to complete 100 hours of community service for each year it is claimed.
Read more about Barack Obama’s proposal here.
John McCain:
* McCain has not yet released his specific plan for higher education financing but has introduced a “student loan continuity plan”.
Read more about John McCain’s proposal here.
tags:Student LoansPopularity: 7% [?]
1 response so far ↓
1 rikkoo // Apr 29, 2008 at 6:46 am
To tell you the truth, FAFSA is the only thing that I seem to have access to and yet both Hilary and Obama wants to get rid of it? I think it is too complicated but that might be because of the website or the whole EFC thing, you just never know how accurate it is. I don’t know, I think just tweaking FAFSA will do.
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