February 3, 2012

As stated in a White House fact sheet, teenagers in America have been indoctrinated from a young age to believe that college education is an absolute necessity.

“In today’s global economy, a college education is no longer just a privilege for some, but rather a prerequisite for all,” the fact sheet states.

According to President Barack Obama, everyone should foot the bill for the costs of post-secondary education. Calling for “responsibility shared by the federal government, states, colleges and universities,” Obama has stressed that a record number of college graduates is the key to America’s financial success.

In a conference call with college journalists Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden reiterated Obama’s message. “Neither of us — Barack or myself — would be in the positions we are in now were it not for the fact that we got a good education and someone helped us do it,” he said.

Indeed, more and more young people are turning to college education after graduating from high school. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, post-secondary enrollment increased 38 percent from 1999 to 2009, and most of that increase came from full-time students.

To account for this spike in enrollment, universities have had to hire additional faculty, build additional dorms and provide more parking spaces for students. All of these actions result in one thing: higher tuition. This higher tuition is, in turn, making college less and less affordable for the people who need it most.

“We’re always talking about the middle class,” Biden said. To me, middle class has always meant two things: that you own your house, and that you can send your kids to school.”

The vice president said graduating with $25,000 or more in debt limits the options students have for post-graduate employment. They are often forced to take high-paying jobs rather than work in fields they enjoy. To combat this, the president has proposed a law that would cap loan repayments for graduates at 10 percent of disposable income.

Biden also called attention to the 7.4 million federal student loans, which have interest rates that will double from 3.4 percent to 7.8 percent in the summer if no congressional action is taken.

“When 62 percent of all jobs in the near future will require a degree past high school, it just doesn’t make sense to price kids out of education,” Biden said.

The president also has plans for helping students and their families choose the right school. The College Scorecard program will rate each university in the country in areas such as graduation rate, cost and ability for graduates to pay off debt. Although there is currently no timeline for finishing the project, a sample scorecard can be found on the White House website.

Reforms to the way the government doles out money to state universities and colleges have also been proposed. Under the new reforms, universities would be rewarded with more money for keeping net tuition low and graduating higher numbers of low-income students.

Students taking part in the Federal Work Study program would benefit from the educational changes as well. Obama has called on Congress to double the number of work-study jobs available to low-income students over the next five years. The Department of Education’s website reports that more than $1 billion was available to students through the work study program in 2011, and each student received an average of $1,642 per year.

To summarize the White House’s platform, Biden compared the college students of today with those of the 1960s, when he attended the University of Delaware.

“Students today volunteer more, they work harder and they are more engaged,” Biden said. “We believe that they should be rewarded.”

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