Friday, January 02, 2004

Candidate Review - Higher Education - Senator John Kerry

Once again I must content myself with an anonymous staffer's depiction of Senator Kerry's Plan. On the other hand, I like how this staffer ties the revenue problems facing states to peoples lives.

"John Kerry’s “Service for College” initiative will offer Americans the chance to earn the equivalent of their state's four-year public college tuition in exchange for two years of service. Kerry will set a goal within the next decade of enlisting 500,000 young people a year in Service for College."

and

"The Bush economic policies have left states with nearly $90 billion in budget deficits, and have forced cuts to higher education budgets, resulting in higher tuition, increased class sizes, and cuts to counseling, tutoring, and remedial coursework. Rising tuitions often mean that students have to drop out and others cannot afford to come. As part of his “State Tax Relief and Education Fund” Kerry will help states struggling to bridge deficits resulting from Bush’s economic policies with $50 billion to stop the education cuts and tuition increases across the country. The additional resources Kerry is proposing will be conditioned on better and smarter use of the higher education money. Kerry believes that colleges and universities should work to make the higher education system more efficient, without sacrificing quality, by streamlining services and reducing duplication. For example, if state colleges and universities banded together to make bulk purchases of things such as health care for employees, energy, supplies, and other services it would save millions of dollars annually."

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