Not to make the 2012 campaign about one issue, but if we're talking about an issue close to my heart (higher education), there's pretty much one choice. From Vol. 30, No. 1 of the MEA Higher Education Advocate:
[I] Obama worked with Congress to freeze student loan interest rates and secured more money for Pell Grants, making college more affordable for more than 7 million students [Education Week 6/29/12; The Washington Post 8/3/12].
In contrast, Romney supports cutting Pell Grants by 25% or more (Paul Ryan's budget creates a 50% cut in Pell Grants), and said he wouldn't to anything to make college more affordable, declaring Americans should "get as much education as they can afford" [The New York Times, 3/5/12; Mitt Romney Campaign Speech, Virginia, 6/27/12].
[II] Obama fought to save the jobs of educators including higher ed professionals across the country, protecting more than 450,000 education jobs from layoffs and keeping class sizes small. However, Romney believes in cutting funding for programs like Head Start that help low-income families, while giving tax breaks to the richest Americans, with the top 1% of Americans seeing an average tax cut of $237,000 and the top .1% of Americans seeing an average tax cut of $1.2M, while the bottom 20% of Americans seeing a tax increase under Romney [MA Budget and Policy Center, 3/5/03; Mitt Romney Education Plan, 5/23/12; Tax Policy Center, 8/5/12].
[III] Allocated $2B to the TAA Community College and Career Training Grant program, taking a giant step towards the goal of helping every American get at least one year of postsecondary education [The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/20/11]. While $2B sounds like a large number, remember that it would only take $70B of the federal budget to cover tuition costs at every two- and four-year public college, a $70B price tag that is the exact same sum the Pentagon wastes annually in "unaccountable spending" [The Daily Beast, 9/27/12].
Romney points to for-profit colleges as a solution to families struggling to afford college, even though many of those schools have been accused of defrauding students [The New York Times, 1/14/12; The Huffington Post, 1/15/12]. For example, while campaigning in Iowa, Romney promoted for-profit colleges such as Full Sail University (based in Florida) for those concerned with the high costs of college. But Full Sail has a student loan default rate between 60-75% in some programs, with student debt exceeding discretionary income by as much as 800%; in addition, Romney failed to inform voters that the chief executive of Full Sail is a major campaign donor and co-chair of Romney's fund-raising team in Florida.
As a full-time faculty member of a mid-size Michigan community college, I know how lucky I am to have the job I have. (In 2009, the percentage of all faculty members and instructors who were employed in contingent positions, off the tenure track, was 75.5%, a number that's increasing every year.) And every day, I see hard-working students of all ages struggle to balance their school demands with the pressures of jobs, families, and friendships. So to see one candidate blatantly and systematically attack the foundations of education in America -- in a time when enriching education, and not just with dollars, is so essential -- means that all other issues tend to recede to the background for me. Even if Romney were for prison reform, tort reform, drug policy reform, and so on (none of which Romney supports, may I remind you), his deleterious and corrosive approach to education easily removes him from my scope of choice. I'm voting for Obama.
[I] Obama worked with Congress to freeze student loan interest rates and secured more money for Pell Grants, making college more affordable for more than 7 million students [Education Week 6/29/12; The Washington Post 8/3/12].
In contrast, Romney supports cutting Pell Grants by 25% or more (Paul Ryan's budget creates a 50% cut in Pell Grants), and said he wouldn't to anything to make college more affordable, declaring Americans should "get as much education as they can afford" [The New York Times, 3/5/12; Mitt Romney Campaign Speech, Virginia, 6/27/12].
[II] Obama fought to save the jobs of educators including higher ed professionals across the country, protecting more than 450,000 education jobs from layoffs and keeping class sizes small. However, Romney believes in cutting funding for programs like Head Start that help low-income families, while giving tax breaks to the richest Americans, with the top 1% of Americans seeing an average tax cut of $237,000 and the top .1% of Americans seeing an average tax cut of $1.2M, while the bottom 20% of Americans seeing a tax increase under Romney [MA Budget and Policy Center, 3/5/03; Mitt Romney Education Plan, 5/23/12; Tax Policy Center, 8/5/12].
[III] Allocated $2B to the TAA Community College and Career Training Grant program, taking a giant step towards the goal of helping every American get at least one year of postsecondary education [The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/20/11]. While $2B sounds like a large number, remember that it would only take $70B of the federal budget to cover tuition costs at every two- and four-year public college, a $70B price tag that is the exact same sum the Pentagon wastes annually in "unaccountable spending" [The Daily Beast, 9/27/12].
Romney points to for-profit colleges as a solution to families struggling to afford college, even though many of those schools have been accused of defrauding students [The New York Times, 1/14/12; The Huffington Post, 1/15/12]. For example, while campaigning in Iowa, Romney promoted for-profit colleges such as Full Sail University (based in Florida) for those concerned with the high costs of college. But Full Sail has a student loan default rate between 60-75% in some programs, with student debt exceeding discretionary income by as much as 800%; in addition, Romney failed to inform voters that the chief executive of Full Sail is a major campaign donor and co-chair of Romney's fund-raising team in Florida.
As a full-time faculty member of a mid-size Michigan community college, I know how lucky I am to have the job I have. (In 2009, the percentage of all faculty members and instructors who were employed in contingent positions, off the tenure track, was 75.5%, a number that's increasing every year.) And every day, I see hard-working students of all ages struggle to balance their school demands with the pressures of jobs, families, and friendships. So to see one candidate blatantly and systematically attack the foundations of education in America -- in a time when enriching education, and not just with dollars, is so essential -- means that all other issues tend to recede to the background for me. Even if Romney were for prison reform, tort reform, drug policy reform, and so on (none of which Romney supports, may I remind you), his deleterious and corrosive approach to education easily removes him from my scope of choice. I'm voting for Obama.
Please, please, PLEASE email me regarding the student loan default rate and where you got that information. I'm currently in a 'fight' with the school involving their lack of interest in student 'friendliness' and lack of education. I would really like to know where you got that number. I can't find it, but I'm sure that's probably accurate.
ReplyDeletedeanjfs@gmail.com