The rising
costs of tuition is a concern that has threatened our core belief in education
being the bridge to the American Dream.
As the number of college graduates and those applying to college has
decreased over past couple of years, we now have to consider how to make
college an attractive investment in the attainment of the American Dream.
Unfortunately, the slow recovery
from the global economic recession, the high unemployment rate of college
graduates and fear of excessive debt from student loans has also contributed to
the apprehension to apply or to attend college.
While it appears the costs of
attending college will widen the educational divide and earnings potential
between college and non-college graduates, the fear that the earning potential
of college graduates will be nullified due to the paying off of student
loans. At a time when a college degree
is essential to entrance into the global workforce and to our future leadership
in the global economy, we need solutions to make college attractive and
affordable. A potential solution may be
found in Oregon .
The Oregon state legislature has unanimously
approved a bill that would allow future philosophy and art history majors to
attend the State’s Public Universities tuition free. The pilot program called “Pay it Forward”
would begin in 2015. Students who
participate in the Pay it Forward would upon graduation have a certain
percentage of their paycheck deducted and placed in a fund for future Pay it
Forward participants[i].
What is attractive about Pay it
Forward is that graduates are not burdened with deductions they cannot
afford. Pay it Forward graduates will
have a 1.5% to 3% deduction from their paycheck based on their gross
income. If a student does not graduate,
they will have pro-rated deductions from their paychecks. Finally, if a Pay it Forward graduate does
not earn enough, no deductions will be taken from their check[ii].
If Oregon can successfully develop their Pay it
Forward program, many other states will look to develop similar programs. It has been reported that legislators from Washington , Vermont , Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
have expressed interest exploring a Pay it Forward program. One of the main obstacles facing Oregon ’s program is the
initial cost to start up the program which is estimated at 9 billion dollars[iii].
It is this type of out of the box
thinking that could get many high school graduates to reconsider attending
college. More importantly, for
minorities and youth living in economically distressed communities, a Pay it
Forward type of program could make college a viable option and remove the fear
exorbitant debt in a recovering global economy.
Lastly, generations of students will be able to benefit from a Pay it
Forward program as the number of Pay it Forward alumni grow, the program will
pay for itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment