For N.C. voters, higher ed is a hot issue
Published: Wed, Apr. 30, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Wed, Apr. 30, 2008 03:08AM
E-Mail
Print
tool name
closeThis is the second in a four-part series looking at the presidential candidates' positions on issues that affect North Carolina.
In a region where higher education is a meal ticket for thousands of faculty and students, it doesn't take long before political debates take an academic bent. Presidential candidates find voters who parse proposals involving student loans, Pell Grants and the graduation rates at community colleges.
"Higher education won't be the only issue that determines my vote, but there is no doubt it is the one that most directly affects me," said Nick Tosco, a senior at N.C. State and a volunteer for Sen. Barack Obama.
FINANCIAL AID
Both candidates want to simplify the financial aid process, increase Pell Grants for poor students and provide tax credits for those who attend college.
Differences include:
CLINTON
* Expanding the Hope tax credit to a maximum of $3,500 and making it available when tuition bills are due instead of waiting until tax forms are filed.
* Setting tuition and fee schedules for all four years of a student's college education at the beginning of the first year to eliminate annual surprises. Schools that do not comply lose federal financial aid.
* Capping monthly payments on financial aid loans made after graduation at a percentage of a graduate's income.
OBAMA
* Offering most students a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to cover the first $4,000 of a college education and making it available at enrollment.
* Detailing for high school juniors the classes needed to be eligible for college and the type of state and financial aid available. This formalizes and expands a process already in place in some states, including North Carolina.
* Increasing Pell Grants to keep pace with tuition inflation after instituting larger increases such as the ones he proposed in the Senate of approximately $5,400 per student. The maximum is now $4,850. Clinton also calls for an annual adjustments to Pell Grants.
BY THE NUMBERS
$19,260
average student debt (2006)
Total grants and scholarships to N.C. students (2006)
Grants: $1.1 billion
Loans: $935 million
Other: $100 million
Total: $2.1 billion
Average Tuition & Fees* (2007)
Public: $4,042 Private: $19,657
*ROOM, BOARD, BOOKS AND OTHER EXPENSES VARY WIDELY, BUT OFTEN ADD $10,000 OR MORE TO TOTAL BILL.
809,000
Total community college enrollment
Curriculum programs
Students earning degrees, certificates, diplomas: 204,000
College transfer students: 67,600
Students graduating or remaining in curriculum programs: 65 percent
Continuing education
Basic skills classes: 131,500
Occupational programs: 240,000
Other training programs: 145,500
Fee-based non-occupational classes: 62,000
The candidates on higher education
Among the three presidential candidates, Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have outlined higher education proposals that are significantly more detailed than those of Republican Sen. John McCain. Most of McCain's focus is on K-12 education. Obama and Clinton do not address exactly the same issues, but financial aid and the role of community colleges are recurring themes.
COMMUNITY COLLEGES
Both candidates want to help more students attend community colleges immediately after high school and later in life for job training. Differences include:
CLINTON
* Offering up to $500 million in incentive grants to increase graduation rates at community colleges and transfers to four-year programs.
* Creating a pilot program that allows part-time students to get federal financial aid -- a common problem for working students at community colleges.
OBAMA
* Working with community colleges to better identify skills needed by local industries and then offering new associate degree programs that cater to those career demands as well as skills needed by emerging industries.
* Within the same program, reward institutions that increase graduation rates and increase transfers to four-year colleges.
SNAPSHOT: N.C. HIGHER EDUCATION
Number of public universities: 16
Number of private colleges and universities: 37
Junior Colleges: 1
Bible Colleges: 5
Number of community college campuses: 58
Total higher ed enrollment: 328,613
STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA (UNC SYSTEM)
WHAT IT WOULD COST
CLINTON
The campaign estimates all of Clinton's higher education proposals would cost approximately $8 billion per year. The changes would be covered by eliminating a program that guarantees subsidies to private banks that handle student loans in favor of an existing loan program that is publicly funded and requires no direct subsidies. She would also use savings from freezing the estate tax at $7 million per couple instead of allowing that tax to be repealed.
OBAMA
The campaign estimates all of Obama's higher education proposals would cost about $10 billion a year. The changes would be covered by requiring all federal contract orders over $25,000 to be competitively awarded; reducing to 2001 levels congressional pork-barrel spending (money that Congress sets aside for projects without debate); eliminating subsidies to private student lenders; and working with the IRS to improve collections of the capital gains tax.
DETAILS ONLINE
hillaryclinton.com/issues: Click on the link titled Improving Our Schools. "Making College Affordable for More Families" is on the upper right of that Web page.
barackobama.com/issues: Click on the link titled Education. "Read The College Affordability Plan" is at the bottom of that Web page.
johnmccain.com/issues: Click on the link titled Education.
CANDIDATE POSITION PAPERS; THE PROJECT ON STUDENT DEBT; STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA (UNC SYSTEM); N.C. COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM
More Home
Detailed proposals belong almost exclusively to Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic party's presidential nomination. College affordability is at the top of the list for both, although neither suggests affordable means cheap.
The issue is pressing because average student debt has more than doubled nationally since the mid-1990s. And it is a particularly sensitive topic in North Carolina, where the state constitution guarantees citizens a free university education "as far as practicable."
It isn't close to free anymore. North Carolina seniors who graduated in 2006 owed an average of about $18,000 in student loans, according to the Project On Student Debt, a nonprofit group that provides research and analysis on college costs.
That figure has increased because of trends away from grants and scholarships, which do not need to be repaid, in favor of student loans.
"Getting a loan isn't the problem," said Amanda Vaughn, a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill who belongs to Heels for Hillary. "The problem is getting so much you don't know how you will pay it all back."
Clinton and Obama are both proposing tax credits to help reduce those costs.
Obama's American Opportunity Tax Credit would guarantee that the first $4,000 of a college education is free for most Americans. Clinton's approach is similar but uses a sliding scale for a tax credit that tops out at $3,500.
Both proposals would make the credit available when college expenses are paid, which is different from the current approach. The existing Hope tax credit, for example, is used to reduce taxes by as much as $1,650 when federal returns are filed.
Either approach would significantly expand the current credit, which supporters say is the most pragmatic way to make college more affordable.
The bulk of the money would come from eliminating subsidies now paid to private lenders in favor of a program that allows colleges to obtain loans directly from the Education Department. The direct lending program currently handles only a small percentage of student loans.
Flies in the ointment
Molly Broad, former UNC system president and incoming president of the American Council on Education, applauds efforts to make college more affordable. But she warned that the proposals face obvious hurdles.
There is no system in place that allows families to apply tax credits when college bills are due. Such an approach would probably require vouchers of some sort, but trying to build that kind of program from scratch would be daunting for financial aid offices, Broad said.
The proposed credits also would be refundable, meaning they can exceed the amount of federal tax a family owes. That is likely to require changes in federal tax code, which in turn would trigger long and labored negotiations.
"It requires a whole new administrative apparatus with the Internal Revenue Service," Broad said. "There are many, many details that would need to be addressed. It isn't clear at all how you would administer something like this."
tim.simmons@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4535
Get it all with convenient home delivery of The News & Observer.
The News & Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since The News & Observer does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The News and Observer.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.
