We disagree. No paranoid rhetoric about indocrination can hide the facts (via the Wonk Room):
Conservative projections on the real fiscal rate of return on public educational investments are high:10% for high quality preschool programs, 15% for innovative K-12 reforms like First Things First, and 10.3% for investments to encourage college access and graduation.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Other research has shown that increasing education levels means less incarceration, higher wages, less unemployment, and even longer life spans. Hopefully, lawmakers and the public will remember the following words of wisdom from Derek Bok, a former president of Harvard University:
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
Last night, Jon Stewart chatted about student loan reform with Austan Goolsbee, an economist and member of the Council of Economic Advisers. The college affordability action starts at 4:38, check it out:
The New York Times published a great editorial yesterday supporting progressive immigration reform, and the four brave students that are walking from Miami to DC to support the DREAM Act, stand up for worker’s rights, stop the separation of families, and create a fair pathway to citizenship. The Times argued that we should not wait until the economy improves to pass immigration reform, as some have suggested:
The Obama administration has vowed to press ahead with reform this year. Given the hard economic times, the politics may be bleaker even than in 2007 when reform was scuttled in an ugly battle. The need is just as real — for the undocumented and for the country.
America needs to shut the path to illegal entry and employment while opening smoother and more rational routes to legal immigration. Opponents of reform say the downturn is a terrible time to fix the system, but they are wrong. When the recovery comes, the country will need a functioning system more than ever — one that encourages legal entry and bolsters all workers’ rights.
To do this, the country needs to bring its huge undocumented underclass into the light.
You can learn more about the Trail of DREAMs at their website (you can even chat with the students live most nights at around 8PM EST): trail2010.org
On New Year’s day, a small group of students started a their journey—on foot—from Miami, FL to Washington, DC to raise awareness about the DREAM Act and other progressive immigration reforms. These courageous students, who were brought to the US as children, did not want to see their futures, and those of their classmates, put in jeopardy because they lack a viable path to citizenship.
The students are working with a group called Students Working for Equal Rights (SWER), which is asking for help with this effort (especially if you live in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, or DC). They need people to organize a reception, donate, offer places to stay, etc.
SWER has received an Organizing Grant from Campus Progress as part of the Action Alliance program. The program awards $200-$1,500 to youth-led organizations that are working on progressive issue campaigns or projects that will help build the progressive youth movement.
In an op-ed published in today’s Inside Higher Ed, CP’s Pedro de la Torre and USSA’s President Carmen Berkley advocate on behalf of students over banks, arguing that “Our country faces too many challenges for us to be providing pointless corporate welfare to loan companies.”
Here is an excerpt:
“The president’s plan will save taxpayers $94 billion over 10 years by ending pointless subsidies to loan companies and using government funds to lend directly to students. Because loan repayment is guaranteed by the federal government, private lenders assume very little risk under the FFELP and yet are rewarded handsomely — a subsidy that makes little economic sense. Much of the savings from the move to direct lending would be used to increase the maximum Pell grant award to $5,550 for the 2010-11 school year, and make the Pell grant a mandatory government program guaranteed an increase — inflation plus 1 percent — every year.
There are other important reasons to make the change. For one, the FFELP program is prone to corruption. A 2006 audit of the student lender Nelnet by the U.S. Department of Education’s inspector general revealed that the company had received more than $1 billion in taxpayer subsidies by gaming the system. Another investigation in 2007 led by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found that lenders were lavishing gifts, payments, and other inducements on college financial aid officers in order to encourage them to recommend their loans to unwitting students.”
This new article in the New York Times delves into both sides of the fight over President Obama’s student loan budget plan. Unsurprisingly, student loan companies are up in arms about the plan, which would end the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and make spending on Pell grants mandatory (read more about the budget plan here.)
Rep. Allen Boyd (D-FL), mentioned in the article, is a vocal opponent of the higher education plan laid out in the President’s budget. If you are a student in Florida, speak up and make your voice heard! Write a letter to the editor or op-ed today explaining why you support a progressive budget plan for higher education.
Also, check out Campus Progress’ toolkit for tips and ideas about how you can get involved and lobby your representatives during the Congressional recess.
Are you interesting in reporting on the college affordability issues in President Obama’s proposed budget? This is going to be relevant to young people everywhere in the coming years, and there are some great local angles that would make for a great story. Here are some ideas you might consider: (more…)
Funding our Future is a campaign to pass a progressive federal budget for 2010 and ensure that our nation.s key economic choices invest in our education, spark reform of our health care system, and address climate change through cap and trade and clean energy investments. Click here for more info.
Conservative projections on the real fiscal rate of return on public educational investments are high:
