Spring Break
Pell-mell into debtor's hell
Derek Simons
Issue date: 10/13/08 Section: Forum
The government's alleged crime was considered particularly egregious - it wanted students to pay for all their textbooks.
Students there believe free tuition is the bare minimum, and having to spend $200 per year on books did not make them happy.
Maybe this sounds all very socialist to you, but consider this: Ireland has gone from being the poorest country in Europe to its new status over the last 10 years as "The Celtic Tiger." This was in large part thanks to a highly-educated young population ready to step in to jobs beyond the service sector.
The United States will not pull out of the oncoming economic depression with $600 stimulus packages or by maintaining tax cuts for the wealthy. It needs to look more than one election cycle into the future.
This country needs to think long-term and make massive new investments in the education system.
This country may have all the potential politicians continually attribute it, but unrealized potential doesn't do much good to anyone.
Cutting the Pell Grants either in size or amount (or worse, both) is tantamount to condemning a large part of the population to a future of minimum-wage jobs or 20 years of oppressive debt.
Look around at your classmates: How many arrive tired from their jobs, behind on their homework or unprepared for an exam?
Talk to your parents and grandparents. Let them tell you how it used to be enough to work during the summer to pay for an entire year of school.
The situation has been steadily deteriorating over the decades, and it's possible it will reach a point of no return. Instead of being the first in your family to get a college degree, you may end up being the last.
This is not purely a "guns vs. butter" discussion. Sure, just a month's spending in Iraq would solve the Pell crisis next year and beyond, but what's really needed is a complete shift in mentality and approach to higher education.
UMKC is constantly scraping around for money - to pay professors, to provide decent services for students, to stay abreast of the latest innovations - and it's losing the battle, constantly taking from one to give to another.
The State of Missouri is financing new construction on college campuses by raiding MOHELA, our state higher-education loan agency. It is building new structures, but less people will be able to afford to attend them.
The nation has in place a dysfunctional program to remove funding from schools incapable of reaching certain levels because they were never financed properly in the first place.
Do you see the trend here?
Elections are coming soon. Listen carefully to what the candidates on all levels say (and if they can say it in complete sentences).
Lip-service is right up there with the unrealized potential mentioned earlier.
It is indeed time for change.
dsimons@unews.com
Students there believe free tuition is the bare minimum, and having to spend $200 per year on books did not make them happy.
Maybe this sounds all very socialist to you, but consider this: Ireland has gone from being the poorest country in Europe to its new status over the last 10 years as "The Celtic Tiger." This was in large part thanks to a highly-educated young population ready to step in to jobs beyond the service sector.
The United States will not pull out of the oncoming economic depression with $600 stimulus packages or by maintaining tax cuts for the wealthy. It needs to look more than one election cycle into the future.
This country needs to think long-term and make massive new investments in the education system.
This country may have all the potential politicians continually attribute it, but unrealized potential doesn't do much good to anyone.
Cutting the Pell Grants either in size or amount (or worse, both) is tantamount to condemning a large part of the population to a future of minimum-wage jobs or 20 years of oppressive debt.
Look around at your classmates: How many arrive tired from their jobs, behind on their homework or unprepared for an exam?
Talk to your parents and grandparents. Let them tell you how it used to be enough to work during the summer to pay for an entire year of school.
The situation has been steadily deteriorating over the decades, and it's possible it will reach a point of no return. Instead of being the first in your family to get a college degree, you may end up being the last.
This is not purely a "guns vs. butter" discussion. Sure, just a month's spending in Iraq would solve the Pell crisis next year and beyond, but what's really needed is a complete shift in mentality and approach to higher education.
UMKC is constantly scraping around for money - to pay professors, to provide decent services for students, to stay abreast of the latest innovations - and it's losing the battle, constantly taking from one to give to another.
The State of Missouri is financing new construction on college campuses by raiding MOHELA, our state higher-education loan agency. It is building new structures, but less people will be able to afford to attend them.
The nation has in place a dysfunctional program to remove funding from schools incapable of reaching certain levels because they were never financed properly in the first place.
Do you see the trend here?
Elections are coming soon. Listen carefully to what the candidates on all levels say (and if they can say it in complete sentences).
Lip-service is right up there with the unrealized potential mentioned earlier.
It is indeed time for change.
dsimons@unews.com
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