my plan to guarantee college for everyone

[liberalcapitalist]

http://www.jasonseagraves.com

As a young American from a low-income family, I know firsthand the struggles that many college students face. I'm sure I'm the only congressional candidate who is still paying off his or her student loans! I am probably the only candidate who had to decide between continuing my studies and furthering my debt, or dropping out of school in order to support my wife and myself. The dramatic increase in the number of high school graduates who attend college has been applauded, but what most fail to realize is that college expansion has created an entire generation of Americans who begin their adult lives deeply in debt.

We live in a society in which only the wealthy can actually afford higher education. Since higher education is necessary for access to most of the best jobs, this means that many Americans from low-income and even middle-class backgrounds are not afforded an equal opportunity to succeed. The Constitutionally mandated equality of all Americans is gravely threatened so long as there is such a gross disparity in educational opportunity, and therefore, I believe that college should be made financially accessible to all Americans.

First and foremost, I believe that more grants and scholarships should be made available to America's best and brightest, as an incentive for students to do well throughout their high school careers. Students with excellent grades and test scores should never be denied a chance to go to school simply because their family cannot afford to pay.

Secondly, I believe that more financial aid should be made available to students from low-income and middle-class homes. Perhaps our nation has already squandered the cure for cancer, the development of an alternative energy source, or any number of scientific developments because some of its best and brightest have been unable to afford college.

Third, I believe that all college students should have community service-based government works projects made available to them in order to help offset some of their tuition expense. We have billions of dollars to subsidize poverty in the form of welfare, why can't we spend money to put people to work and to provide an opportunity for those who would like to earn their way through college? There is work to be done in almost any downtown area in any American city, and there are the workers to do it. Let's do it!

Fourth, I believe that every student should have the opportunity to finance the full cost of his or her education, no questions asked, at 0% interest, with the loan to be repaid only upon gaining employment, and only at a set-percentage of income over the course of a set number of years. Right now, many of our young people are starting off their lives deeply in debt, and are often left with no way out.

Finally, I would support reparations to all living Americans for all student loan interest and penalties, in the form of tax credits to be paid over the course of ten or twenty years. Millions of Americans have been victimized by predatory lending practices, and it is our moral obligation to pay them back.

Conservatives will ask, "How will we pay for this?" The answer is a question itself: "How much is our current system costing us in terms of unrealized potential?" If we have billions of dollars for tax cuts for the rich, corporate welfare, missions to Mars, etc., then we certainly have the money to ensure access to college for everyone. It's about our priorities, and with my campaign, education is priority #1.