Great OpEd on paying for College in today's Lowell Sun

[TayTay]

But it won't be online until 9/4/06. (Sigh!)

http://www.lowellsun.com/editorials/

Sen. Kerry penned a great OpEd today for the Lowell Sun about how difficult it is for students to pay for college and he proposed some really good ways to help. Too bad this isn't at the web site, of anyone's web site. It was a really good OpEd. (Grrrr, I would love to link to this, but I can't.)

Read it tomorrow when it goes up at the Sun, sigh.

[TayTay]

1. Found it! This is really well thought out stuff

Making college more affordable
by John Kerry

The Lowell Sun
9/3/06

Anne Aumueller, 25, a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, typifies thousands of college students across the state. When she graduates, she'll have thousands of dollars of debt. Paying for college is "hard. It's really hard. For a self-supporting college student, I have rent, a car payment, car insurance -- that's all in addition to my educational expenses," she said.

Unfortunately stories like Anne's are all too common. Too many young people, from all walks of life, are either struggling to pay for college or flat out can't afford it. Those who aren't able to incur such steep costs are not only losing out on a degree, but setting themselves up to face a lifetime of lost opportunities, as study after study shows college graduates make more money and can get hired for the fastest-growing and best-paying jobs of tomorrow.

According to an analysis released last month by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, more than two-thirds of families in Massachusetts last year still required approximately $6,300 beyond financial aid to afford a college education. Faced with such a hardship, many students drop out, saying the costs are too steep. Those who do complete their degrees are often saddled with thousands of dollars in student loans, which can take years, often decades, to pay off.

A college education means more than ever in today's economy, yet the administration in Washington, which promised to leave no child behind, has done nothing to make college more affordable for young people. In fact, President Bush recently broke his famous 1999 promise to veto any tax increase by signing into law a tax cut bill which triples the tax rates for teenagers with college savings funds. The wealthiest Americans once again received a fat check in the mail courtesy of the federal government, while students who scrimped and saved for college are picking up the taxpaying slack. That's not leadership. That's failure on the part of a president who is out of touch and out of credibility.

(Sen. John Kerry has represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate since 1984.)

More at:

http://www.lowellsun.com/fastsearchresults/ci_4282876

[ProSense]

2. Wow!

That was excellent! Very comprehensive! Wow!

You should post this in GD. Thanks!

[TayTay]

3. I thought so too.

This needs a write-up and summary in GD. (Which I don't have time to do right now, sigh!) I had time to make sure it didn't get lost over Labor weekend, but not to pull out the 4 things Kerry says we should do and then post the article link.

Anybody want to take this to GD for me?

[ProSense]

6. Posted here

snips from the article and outline of the plan:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2810529&mesg_id=2810529

[MH1]

4. Nice op-ed - but I have a question

When I follow the link, this is what the header says:

Article Launched: 09/03/2006 06:32:23 AM EDT

Making college more affordable
The Lowell Sun

"by John Kerry" isn't there. There is no indication that JK wrote this, except for that bit at the bottom (which makes no sense being there if he didn't author the op-ed).

Is this the Sun being incompetent, or is it just the Sun being the Sun? (or both)

[TayTay]

5. Ahm, MH, it's all of the above.

The credit for the article was in a picture that was not reproduced on the website. (Fairly nice pic, tiny little smiling image with the letters, John Kerry, underneath.)

Apparently, it is too much trouble for the Lowell Sun geniuses to see that the author of the article is not stated in the text, but in an image. They did not correct for this in their online edition. I did, but I am only added what was in the newspaper edition, which I hold in my hand right now.

So, it's incompetence driven by the fact that they don't like John Kerry. (They would have corrected for a Repub in the State, had their actually been any with brains enough to write like this.)

[MH1]

7. Ah, just as I thought.

They would have corrected for a Repub in the State, had their actually been any with brains enough to write like this.

:rofl:

So true.

[TayTay]

8. And kudos to the research people

on this. Getting something worthy to go out under the bosses sig is no mean feat. Research people are so undervalued.

[karynnj]

9. Agreed - and with all he puts out under his signature, he clearly has

inspired many very very bright, motivated, creative, well intentioned people to join his staff. They clearly work very hard for him. Whichever research people worked on this deserve a lot of praise.