Following a speech in which he outlined a plan to make higher education more accessible, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean answered questions about his plan, the Dean College Commitment, Thursday morning in a national conference call.
Dean complained that President Bush’s tax cuts have reduced Pell Grant funding and will cause hundreds of thousands of students to get smaller grants. Dean further stated that as president he will “seek real change in the way we approach higher education.”
Specifically, he proposed that upon graduating from high school students would have access to $10,000 per year for postsecondary education in either traditional college or high-skills career training. In addition, he proposed that students would never have to pay more than 10 percent of their income after college on student loan payments and even less if they enter service fields like nursing or teaching in high need areas. If students work and make these loan payments for 10 years the loans will be paid in full.
He also proposed a special deal for students who enter public service professions such as nursing, teaching or social work.
“The ticket to better jobs and opportunities is higher education,” Dean said, adding that his plan will work to make higher education more widely affordable and accessible to all students.
He also plans to expand AmeriCorps and make health care and health insurance readily available to all Americans. Between the Dean College Commitment and the expansion of AmeriCorps, every American who wants to will be able to pursue a national service career without worrying about debilitating loan payments. In addition, Dean’s proposal would give a quarter of a million Americans the opportunity to serve through programs like Teach for America and City Year.
In his conference call, Dean spoke about his desire to keep children from dropping out of school at a young age. He said that with his new plan, children will be encouraged at a younger age to pursue higher education, and therefore will be less likely to quit. His plan will help students in junior high school and their parents to make concrete plans and prepare for college.
“Part of the reason so many kids drop out is that they don’t think they have a future, and we want to change that,” Dean said.
Dean also said that his plans will help minorities, although not exclusively.
“I have a deep commitment to civil rights and to affirmative action. My plans are not necessarily aimed at African-Americans or Latinos, but they may help them especially,” he said.
With the complexity of financial aid, some have questioned how Dean’s plan could help individual cases of need
“It sounds like an ambitious plan, but I wonder if he can do anything for those who are already paying off student loans. All students could benefit from financial help, no matter what their backgrounds,” University of Wisconsin sophomore Stephanie Peters said.
UW junior Gina Miller said she is skeptical about feasibility of the financial aid plans.
“I think Dean’s intentions sound excellent, but unfortunately not very realistic. I’d be very curious to know where the money for all this is coming from and how he is going to implement his plan,” she said.
UW sophomore Kara Leibin said she is a full supporter of Dean’s push for higher education, but also thinks funding concerns must be taken into consideration. Nonetheless, she said she is hopeful that Dean will maintain his commitments by starting off the initiatives slowly and using the current goal as a starting point to further his plans.
Many members of Generation Dean, his campaign’s official youth-oriented organization, participated in the teleconference. The conference also included various people in the education community and representatives of youth media from across the country. Dean outlined his plan and answered questions from members of the assembly hall in New Hampshire and from callers listening to the conference over the phone.
