Carly Fiorina
“¢bull; Political party:
Republican
“¢bull; Age:
56
“¢bull; Education history:
Attended Stanford University for her B.A., attended University of Maryland, College Park for her M.B.A., attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology for her M.S., attended UCLA school of Law for one semester in 1976
“¢bull; Job history:
CEO at HP from 1999 to 2005
Employee at AT&T for 20 years
Only 2.5 points separate California candidates, Democrat Barbara Boxer and Republican Carly Fiorina, in the most recent Real Clear Politics poll. The U.S. Senate hopefuls have reached the final push to win over California voters.
With only a week left to make their choice, UCLA students are interested in how each candidate will help the public university system.
“We haven’t heard anything about how either candidate is going to solve this budget crisis, and they neglect a huge block of voters when they don’t address those issues that are most important to college students,” said Alexandra Schulz, a third-year psychology student.
Both candidates have said education and college students’ futures are some of their top priorities, but they are approaching them in very different ways.
Boxer has worked to give money to the State School Fund, which is used by public universities to fund many of their programs. They use royalties paid by what Dan Newman, a spokesman for the Boxer campaign, calls “deadbeat oil companies” that use public land for extraction.
During her three terms in the Senate, Boxer has introduced legislation that has allowed California students to refinance their consolidated loans and has given tax relief for middle-class families, he said.
By increasing the tax credit in President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan to 40 percent for middle-class families paying for college, Boxer supports more people going to college, and not being able to afford an education should not be a reason not to go, he said.
The Democratic campaign said Boxer has been a strong advocate for the public university system.
“Sen. Boxer was against the budget cuts for the UC system, and she is working to cut taxes for school expenses,” Newman said.
While the Boxer campaign focuses largely on tax incentives and funding for public education, a representative from Fiorina’s campaign said the Republican strategy turns to the economy.
Fiorina aims to make sure there are jobs for university graduates, focusing more on students’ situations after graduation rather than pouring money into universities.
The Republican campaign says Democrats’ contributions have been small in assuring that graduates have comfortable lives after college.
“(Fiorina) is focusing on what she can do to ensure (students) have a better future after they graduate,” said Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Fiorina campaign. “In order to get our economy back on track, we believe Congress must implement common-sense budget solutions that control spending.”
Saul added that further funding for UC research, preparing students for jobs that continue their academic interests, and minimizing state and personal debt are all ways Fiorina will try to ease the transition for college students who are moving from the university atmosphere to establishing their own careers.
“The unemployment rate among people in their 20s is 14.9 percent,” Saul said. “This is almost a 2 percent increase from when the economic stimulus was passed in 2009. It obviously isn’t working in California’s favor.”