While President Bush continues to deal with national security
and the economy, the 2004 Democratic presidential primary
candidates are waiting for the results from the first of the
primary elections held today in Washington, D.C.
The main issues for the presidential primary campaigns have been
national security and the economy, but higher education has become
an increasingly important issue.
From increasing financial aid to supplying more funding to
colleges, the candidates are advocating affordability and
accessibility for students across America.
The candidates’ proposals for improving higher education
are not new. Now however, candidates are proposing that the federal
government should perhaps be taking a greater role in higher
education, a role that is traditionally left to state
governments.
Candidate and Democratic frontrunner Howard Dean released his
policy for higher education about four months before the primaries
began, a move that some strategists deemed dangerous.
Some said it allowed other candidates time to find negative
points in his policy, and it also forced other candidates to follow
suit in releasing their own policies to prove that they too cared
about higher education.
“(Candidates) are most likely aiming at parents of
students or parents of future students, probably around (the age
of) 35 to 40 and above,” said Joel Aberbach, a UCLA professor
of political science and policy studies.
Aberbach also said discussion of higher education was not likely
targeted toward attracting student voters because students are less
likely to vote in primary elections.
However Lynn Vavreck, an assistant professor of political
science at UCLA, suggested candidates may be in fact targeting
student voters for the very reason that they are less likely to
vote.
“The only thing I can think of is they are trying to get
students to vote,” she said. “Typically a campaign
would just hire a political pollster. They tell how they are doing
among young people or among old people.”
Based on this information, Vavreck said, the campaign will
target a certain audience to improve its numbers.
According to campaign representatives, however, the reason for
submitting higher education policies is purely ideological.
“Senator (John) Edwards was the first person in his family
to go to college and knows the important role of college to open
doors,” said Jeremy Van Ess, deputy press secretary for
Edwards. “He wants every person to have the opportunity to do
so.”
People outside of the political spectrum are skeptical as to how
much change will really come about as a result of these
policies.
“It is a matter of national debate rather than anything
else,” said Clara Lovett, president and CEO of the American
Association for Higher Education. “Solutions will not come
from Washington; they will come at the state level if they come at
all.”
Despite the federal government’s traditionally subdued
role in instituting higher education, the Democratic primary
candidates seem eager to pursue the topic.
“For the Democrats in general, education has always been
an important party element,” said David DiMartino, press
secretary for John Kerry.
Lovett said the primary concerns currently facing higher
education are focused on accessibility and affordability.
“Public colleges have become more and more
expensive,” Lovett said. “There is the issue of how a
student pays for a two- or four-year program.”
The most reasonable answer, Lovett said, is to increase
financial aid.
Though not all of the presidential primary candidates are
proposing to improve financial aid, most who have made proposals
regarding the improvement of higher education all believe in its
importance and express a desire to make education more
accessible.
Dean devised a proposal to provide each student access to
$10,000 per year to fund his or her post-secondary education. Dean
also included provisions to keep students’ loan payments and
interest down after graduation.
Like Dean, candidates Edwards, Wesley Clark, Joe Lieberman,
Carol Moseley Braun and Dick Gephardt also support providing
increased financial aid directly to students. Whether in the form
of Pell Grants, a type of federal loan, or an increase in other
loans and grants, the candidates want to ensure students have
direct access to money for tuition costs.
Another approach to improving higher education is to pour more
money into the college programs. Kerry emphasized helping states
out of their financial difficulties so that state level education
cuts would be ended.
“It’s a complicated formula,” DiMartino said.
“It starts with getting the economy back on track by getting
states more money so they can fund more of higher
education.”
Lieberman outlined a plan to provide financial incentives to
colleges with high enrollment and graduation rates of lower income
and minority students.
Other candidates have chosen to focus on accessibility for
students. Edwards’ policy calls for an end to legacy programs
to allow students to start on a level playing field in the
admissions process. Gephardt and Lieberman both support continuing
affirmative action programs.
Though national government may not have played a large role in
higher education in the past, such policies are not entirely
idealistic.
“The national government can get more involved,”
Vavreck said. “It depends on how hard (the president) is
willing to work with his staff and with the Congress to get these
policies through.”