>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: chad montrie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2001 08:54:25 -0500 >Subject: [StudentTuitionAllianceOSU] more numbers > > >These items come from the latest issue of Labor Party Press (March >2001). They are all quotes, except for the one bit I added at the >end, in brackets: > >"With a fraction of the money Bush wants to dole out in tax cuts, we >could provide a free college education to everyone who is currently >enrolled in public colleges and universities. According to data >from the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics, we could >eliminate all tuition and fees for public college and postgraduate >education for less than $22 billion. That's less than one-third of >one percent of our nation's total annual output .... > >"In the 2000-2001 school year, the average student at a four-year >college will pay $11,338 just to stay in school for the year. Since >1980, the average tuition at four-year collges has doubled, >adjusting for inflation, while the average parent's salary has done >nothing of the kind .... > >"The increase in the number of 18- to 24-year-olds hasn't come about >because masses of working and poor people are crashing through the >ivied gates of academia. Between 1977 and 1993, about 70 percent of >18- and 19-year-olds from families in the top quarter income bracket >attended college, and the percentage has only gone up since then. >About half the children in the two middle quartiles attended >college. But less than 30 percent of children from the poorest >quarter of families attended, and their percentage has been dropping >.... > >"Unfortunately, the nation's college financial aid system has been >falling down on the job. Back in 1972, Congress created the Pell >Grant program, which provided outright grants to help low-income >students go to college. Back then, the maximum Pell Grant award for >the lowest income students came to $1400, which covered about 72 >percent of the average total cost of going to a four-year >institution. > >"In the 1980s, Congress started to cut the value of the Pell grants. >By 1996, the maximum Pell Grant covered only about 13 percent of >college costs. Meanwhile, more and more of the emphasis in federal >aid shifted from grants to loans. For low-income people, loans just >don't do the trick. > >"And yet, ensuring that everyone who wants to go to college can go >is one of the smartest investments the nation could make. >Postsecondary Education Opportunity has calculated that in 1999, >every dollar spent on college education yielded 26 dollars in >increased lifetime income for students. And for the nation, those >high-earning college grads yield not only increased output, but more >taxes paid. > >"There's a famous historical precedent for this finding: The GI Bill >of Rights [Serviceman's Readjustment Act] signed by President >Franklin Roosevelt in 1944 provided millions of veterans with >tuition, fees, and supplies, and even paid some living expenses. It >was an expensive program, and it was also, according to a report by >the congressional Joint Economic Committee, one of the best >investments the federal government ever made. For every dollar >spent, the government got a return of at least $6.90 ... > >[I can also say from personal experience, that the GI Bill was >important in bringing working-class students into the field of >history who, once acquiring advanced degrees, were very important in >moving the field toward study of workers, immigrants, >African-Americans, and other marginalized groups in society - so its >not all about making a good "investment" money-wise.] > >Chad Montrie
