During every presidential election season, myriad issues are brought before the populace to be presented, discussed, and debated, and one perennial topic is the issue of higher education. This year, America is presented with a bounty of solutions from both candidates to the education system's difficulties - solutions that can have serious effects not only on individuals but also on universities such as Boston College.
The issues facing this year's candidates in regard to higher education include a confounding federal financial aid application process, high-cost loans, increasing tuition costs, and high school seniors unprepared for the rigor of higher education.
Some BC students have expressed concern over these issues. Ben Westcott, CSOM '09, who has had experience with the federal financial aid process, said he is concerned that more attention needs to be paid to the needs of individual students.
"The federal financial aid process should be structured more so to help the students, not the big universities," Wescott said.
Administrators also share concerns regarding the future of education in America. Kay Schlozman, professor of political science at BC, said, "Although higher education in America is really high quality, we are losing our edge in terms of the proportion of young people who graduate from college … this generation might be the only generation in history to be less educated than their parents."
Both presidential candidates have offered solutions to help more Americans receive the opportunity for a college degree.
Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama has based his higher education plan on a $10 billion tax credit program, which would allow for a $4,000 tax credit to be allotted to lower-middle-class college students who complete a required 100 hours of community service.
Obama has also been an advocate for the Pell Grant Expansion initiative to raise the maximum Pell Grant award from $4,050 to $5,010 and he supports affordable student loans, which he plans to implement through a conversion from the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) to the more affordable Direct Loan system.
Republican nominee Senator John McCain supports consolidating student loan packages to simplify the loan application process. McCain also supports transparency between institutions and the public, allowing parents and students to receive more information about colleges and universities through the federal government.
Some of these proposed measures from both candidates are turning some heads within the administration at BC. Bernard Pekala, director of financial strategies, said that both candidates have many positive opportunities to offer to students and to the University community.
"We fully support a concept like Mr. Obama's [tax credit program], and encourage it so that our students can take full advantage of it … and it would be great if we could get the best of both sides, if the government not only gets the right information out to families but also helps students make the right choices along the way. There are some excellent opportunities out there," Pekala said.
Robert Lay, dean for enrollment management, expressed similar hopes for the next few years. "We like both candidates and we always think that more involvement and more community service is great."
One issue with which everyone seems to be in agreement is the streamlining of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is used every year by over 14 million applicants to apply for numerous loans including Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, PLUS loans, and work-study options. Currently, the FAFSA consists of five pages and 127 questions to be filled out by the applicant. Both McCain and Obama believe that there should be alternative options to the document, one of them being a shorter supplement to the federal income tax form package.
While America looks to the future for new measures to improve the current education system, it is important to know that there are many opportunities that do exist today for many students.
The federal government disperses more than $80 billion annually to students throughout the nation in the form of grants, loan packages, and work-study opportunities.
Additionally, BC offered 960 financial aid awards to students in the class of 2012, 100 percent of which satisfied those students' full financial needs. The annual financial package was $25,202. The administration at BC encourages students who are confused at all by the financial aid process to visit the Financial Services office and express their concern.
"The best thing anybody can do is to just come in and talk about it, we'll work something out," Pernake said.
Be the first to comment on this article!