Editor's note: Beginning today, The State News editorial board will address key issues of the presidential campaign every Wednesday edition. For a complete schedule of topics, please see the bottom of this editorial. All edits until Oct. 25 do not reflect a formal endorsement of any candidate.
Put side by side, President Bush's campaign goals for higher education are clearer than plans set in place by Sen. John Kerry. As President, Bush has had four years experience in shaping higher education from behind the most powerful desk in the world. He has the numbers to crunch, while Kerry has aggregate goals in mind. Keep in mind, neither are effective on paper.
Really, the only dealings federal government has in higher education is to help finance various student-aid programs and grants along with providing funding for various research projects. Any real influence a U.S. president can have on the development of higher education policy is basically secondhand - a president can rhapsodize on plans, but enforcement is beyond the executive branch.
Bush wants to increase student financial aid by $25.9 billion, add $1,000 to the total value of each Pell Grant for low-income students who take rigorous secondary courses, increase the number of AmeriCorps education awards distributed, increase first-year student-loan limits by $375 and provide incentives for community colleges to stress dual-enrollment for high schoolers.
Bush, however, has implicitly stated his disapproval of affirmative action in colleges. This is not a good idea. We at The State News have long supported affirmative action in the college admissions process to level the playing field and promote diversity. Refuting those ideals is not an admirable characteristic.
Kerry plans to offer a $4,000 tax credit for families struggling to send their children to college, simplify the student-aid applications - right now the applications have more questions than an application for a $2 million small business loan - and offer free college tuition to those who work for two years in a school, health center or military. From there, Kerry's ambition and smart plans dip into vague statutes about preparing students for college through tutoring, mentoring and college-prep courses and rewarding colleges that have higher graduation rates for keeping students in college.
What is concrete in Kerry's plan is amazing and ambitious, but he lacks the focus on numbers that Bush is able to boast. And when both candidates are demanding some similar reforms for higher education, the question becomes which candidate will actually follow through, regardless of numbers.
Today, President Bush has a clearer vision on how to make college affordable. But no matter the plan, the policy or the president, keeping as many students in college for as little as possible is the primary goal we all agree on.
