Candidates split over higher ed. proposals

No president is likely to have the ability to decrease the cost of post-secondary education. The winner of tomorrow's election, however, can strongly influence the financial resources available to students.

President George W. Bush emphasizes the importance of community colleges, while Sen. John Kerry prefers the traditional four-year route. Bush focuses on training and retraining individuals to acquire new job skills, while Kerry focuses on accessibility to higher education for young people.

During the campaign, the candidates have laid out plans that they say would facilitate access to colleges and universities for low- and middle-income students and make higher education more universal.

Bush's No Child Left Behind Act -- aimed at reforming the country's public school system -- has been his principle educational initiative. With higher education, he is taking what some refer to as a non-traditional path, focusing on community colleges to which he has promised a $125 million grant if re-elected.

He also proposes programs to aid working adults seeking better job qualifications.

"The president is facing the economic realities of a global economy. He realizes there's going to be a need for lifelong learning," Bush spokesman John Bailey said. The administration aims to "put in place short-term job training programs to help workers get the jobs they need."

Kerry, in contrast, has said he will pursue a more standard route based on four-year institutions.

"I think Kerry is much more inclined to favor more traditional higher education," said Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education at Penn. "Kerry might see community colleges as another option. ... Having options gives you a choice of where you want to go."

The central element of Kerry's higher education plan is a $4,000 tax credit over four years for families with a child in college. Gasman said that the scheme was feasible if Kerry rolled back Bush's tax cuts, while Bailey questioned its viability and usefulness.

However, the candidates do have some similar policies. Both say they plan to facilitate access to higher education with expansion of Pell Grants, which are the key method for low-income students to better afford college tuition.

But though the grants have become more widely available under Bush, their value has significantly decreased.

"One thing that's troubling is that, under Bush, more students got Pell Grants, but the amount of that grant is low," Gasman said. "They used to cover 84 percent [of costs]. They now cover 40 percent."

Both candidates also promise to raise the maximum award of the grants to match pace with inflation, a direct cause of the decade-long rise in the cost of higher education. Rising technological expenses are also responsible for tuition increases, particularly at public institutions.

"Over a period of years, a lower proportion of state budgets are being devoted to higher education," said Michael Baer, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. "Higher education is being pushed out of the way."

To that end, Kerry has proposed $10 million for state governments solely for funding colleges. Likewise, Bush says he will employ federal financing to match escalating tuition costs.

Kerry's tax break proposal has been an issue of contention.

"Kerry is proposing a tax credit primarily benefiting middle-class and upper-middle-class students," Bailey said. "It doesn't actually increase student enrollment. Students that typically apply for credit are typically enrolled in higher education."

Both Democrats and Republicans agree, though, that the financial aid application is overly complex. They say it leads to confusion among students as to whether they have the resources to go to college.

"The first thing you'd do is streamline the financial aid process so that people can figure out their eligibility and figure out what sort of aid they can expect earlier in the process, so they can figure out what kind of school they want to go to," Kerry spokesman Mark Nevins said. "The student application form [should be] no bigger than the size of a postcard."

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