Making Higher Education Affordable

Cross-posted at Some Notes on Living.

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Why is it so important to make college affordable and accessible to all high school students who want to attend, and have the grades necessary? Let me begin by telling you a story:

When I was 16, about to enter my senior year of high school, I’d been dreaming about going to college for probably four or five years. I thought of the courses I would take, how hard it would be living away from my family, worried over whether or not I’d be asked to join a sorority – and decided it didn’t matter.

Over those four or five years, I’d created an elaborate dream for myself: How I’d graduate and land a great job, own my own house with a bright red door, a little picket fence and a huge bed of wildflowers. I’d dress like the folks on Dynasty and Dallas (hey, it was the 80’s…) and I would never, ever, have to work outside in freezing cold and blistering hot.

Reality hit, slowly, in bits and pieces, over the next few months.

Problem #1: I was on a business-track, which meant (back then) Accounting I & II, Typing I & II, and Data Processing (which I failed) in addition to the standard History, English and Social Science classes.

The guidance office would be willing to assist me in finding a secretarial school, (in 1985, in rural Pennsylvania, they weren’t exactly encouraging young women to enter MBA and CPA programs, regardless of their 3.96 average in Accounting II) or even the vo-tech school’s medical assistant program. The fact that I had a 3.99 in Accounting II meant nothing beside the fact that I could type 95 words per minute. College was not on their radar for me.

Worse yet, because they knew who I was dating, there was no little pressure to just get a job and wait a couple years for my diamond. “Who needs a college education to raise children?” said my ever-helpful guidance counselor.

Problem #2: I had never taken the SAT or the ACT. It’s impossible (or close) for a high school senior to even apply for college without these scores. Whenever I asked about taking them, Problem #1 popped up its nasty little head. Since this was back in the days before Google, I didn’t even know where to look for more information. I didn’t know you can sign up for SATs without your guidance office’s help.

Problem #3: This one was the killer. I couldn’t afford college. I studied every brochure I received in the mail, and I received a lot of them. I’d sent for information from colleges and universities I knew I would never attend.

Slowly, it became clear: even if I went to state university (not “the” state university) there was no way I could raise the funds. I was working a part-time job at IBM for class credit, and made a grand total of $64 after taxes, most of which went to fuel and insurance and vehicle maintenance. My mom had just graduated from the LPN program and was just beginning her nursing career, so she didn’t have the money.

Because I was on a business-track, the school never bothered to mention things like Guaranteed Student Loans, or Pell Grants. I thought the only way to get to college was to write a check – and I didn’t even have a checkbook.

I still remember the exact moment it became clear that my dream was dead. January 30th – just before my 17th birthday. Just two days after the Challenger exploded, killing 7 people, including a teacher who’d had a dream of her own. I was in my bedroom, and George Michael was singing on the radio. I had on a pair of my favorite 501’s, and my Foreigner shirt, and the Nikes I’d worked so hard to buy.

In that instant, all the hard work and long hours I’d put in, all the essays and term papers I’d written, all the tests I’d taken, were worth … nothing.

Over the last 21 years, I’ve learned my dream wasn’t dead, just … deferred, and I’ve always regretted it.

Because of this, I pushed my own children to succeed – sometimes too hard, especially when their path was slightly different from the traditional model – and this time ’round, I know what to look for.

In 2008, I will have two children in the higher education system – one in studying motorcycle mechanics and repair, the other studying criminal justice. When the time comes, their education will be funded by student loans, Pell Grants, and work-study programs. There is no free ride, not for them.

They will leave their respective schools with a debt load and a repayment schedule that will keep them eating rice and beans and ketchup soup for more than a couple years.

But they’re going. And they’re willing to accept that debt.

How many other children over the years have had to defer their dream? How many of today’s high school seniors will decide college is simply unaffordable because of the high cost and the heavy repayment schedule? How many will give up their dreams because they’re on the business track, or because they’re not “college material” or because they don’t know about SATs and student loans?

We have, to quote the Martina McBride song, a nation of children “living in darkness” and we have got to start shining a light and showing them there’s hope, there’s a future! That school matters, that hard work and good grades and a dream are the only ticket you need – whether you’re living in a ghetto, or a reservation, or a dingy apartment, or a tree-lined street in the ‘burbs.

Imagine college education being as universal as high school. What if anyone who wanted could attend, regardless of their parents’ or their income? Poor children in the inner cities and rural towns and everywhere in between. What if just having a dream and working hard to reach your goal was enough?

That’s my dream, a dream for another day. We may not see universal tertiary education, but Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) is working toward making college available and making repayment affordable.

That’s what the Higher Education Access Act of 2007 seeks to establish: to raise the Pell Grant award, to cap repayment at 15% of a student’s income, to extend deferments for students in financial distress, to offer loan forgiveness for those in public service. (Real public service – teachers, nurses, social workers, law enforcement officers – not the cheap Libby “I work in government and got out of jail free” type.)

In his statement yesterday on the Senate floor, Senator Kennedy said this:

When I graduated from high school, good jobs were available to high school graduates, but that is no longer the case. Today, 60 percent of new jobs require some post-secondary education, compared to just 15 percent half a century ago. Yet the United States now ranks only 14th in college graduation rates among all industrial nations.

In the face of the challenges of the global economy, college education is more important than ever, but it’s never been more difficult to afford. The cost has more than tripled over the last twenty years. Today, average tuition, fees and room and board at public colleges is almost $13,000 — and it’s more than $30,000 at private colleges.

Each year, over 400,000 talented, qualified students don’t attend a four-year college because they can’t afford it.
[snip]

In 1993, fewer than half of all students took out loans to finance their education, but today, more than two-thirds of students borrow for college.

Today, the average student leaves college with more than $19,000 in student loan debt.

This mountain of debt is distorting the basic life choices of countless Americans. It’s forcing them to delay getting married, delay buying a home, and delay starting a family. It’s also discouraging many young people from choosing careers in fields such as teaching, social work and law enforcement- the low-paying but vital jobs that bring large benefits to our society.

As students struggle to pay back their loans, the lenders who offer them are making more money than ever. We offer lenders enormous subsidies to take part in the federal loan programs.

[snip]

This legislation will help reverse the crisis in college affordability in several ways:
• It will immediately and dramatically increase the amount of aid for Pell Grant recipients;
• It will help students manage their debt, by capping student loan payments at 15 percent of their monthly income;
• It will provide longer deferments in loan repayments for student borrowers facing economic hardship;
• It will completely forgive the loans of those who enter society’s most needed professions; and
• It will restore balance to our grossly unfair student loan system by reducing unnecessary subsidies for lenders. [my emphasis]

[snip]

I recall very clearly how important that principle was for President Kennedy. During the 1960 campaign, there was a clear difference on that issue. My brother believed very strongly that if you work hard, study hard, and get accepted to college, you should be able to attend the college of your choice – without regard to cost. That view resonated powerfully with students and families, and it helped create the groundswell that led to the creation of the Higher Education Act in 1965, and again in 1972 when we established the Pell Grant. {Read the entire statement.}

Under the Higher Education Access Act of 2007, more students than ever will be able to attend college, and they will face a far less-daunting repayment schedule, including loan forgiveness for those who spend ten years or more in needed public service careers.

Contact your Senators and tell them to give every student the chance to achieve their dream. Tell them to support S.1762.