Originally Posted by
JPF
My take is this:
Warren’s plan has some merit. The taxes to pay for the plan apply to 75,000 families. It’s 2% tax on families making $50,000,000 or more per year.
Where I differ is the scope and payment vehicle.
Four years? No. Two years? Yes. The reason I do not favor 4 years is because it does make me worry that we’ll have a bunch of people who simply quit their jobs to get a college degree. That probably isn’t good for the economy short-term. The two year plan, for me, has the right amount of incentive and protection for the society as a whole. Also, what I don’t understand about Warren’s plan is this; if the government is going to pay for 4 years of college at a publicly funded university, wouldn’t that mean that you’d end up with a stampede of kids going to (if you’re in Ohio), Ohio State? If you’re in Texas, UT? Outside of leaving your home, why would you stay in some backwater community in rural Ohio or Texas when you get a free ride at Columbus or Austin?
I don’t have so much issue with the funding as I do with the scope. Still, I think having it free-to-the-student is not wholly desirable. So I prefer that we do two years on a basis of reversing the way SS works. Social Security has you pay in during your work life and get payments when you’re finished working. Fund two years of college (by the index below) up front; then pay for it through payroll deductions during your work life. Funding upfront using her tax on the 75,000 families.
So here is what I propose.
1. Index the costs per year at the closest 20 publicly funded institutions to your residence. Lets say it’s $1,000 per year.
2. Make available for the Students, payment for the equivalent of 2 years of study based on that index. So the student gets $2,000 in our example.
3. This should pay for 60 hours at a junior college. If the student wants to go to a “career institute”, they only get the $2K, not 2 years of whatever UTI charges
4. Once the student starts working, a deduction is made out of the paycheck (not to exceed $X per check) until the $2,000 is paid back plus a fee of 3%.
The plan would work like this:
1. Standard 18 y/o out of high school is described as above.
2. Lets say you’re in school currently, the plan above would pay for the next 2 years so you may get years 2&3, 3&4 as described above. If you’re in year four…sorry. This is under-grad only.
3. If you’re in a career, you can take advantage and enhance your studies; go from being an LVN to an RN for example. Or you can take anthropology, creative writing, or something not tied to a vocation. It’s up to you.
4. If you’re later in your life, you will be penalized since your career earnings may not compensate for the payments made up-front. You would have to pay back more-per-paycheck if you’re over 50.
It seems more workable to me. I like Warren’s ideas of wiping out the student debt. The plan going forward to not have debt be part of the college experience is not so great. And, if you look at her website, she does the standard pandering to blacks that all democrat candidates must do. It’s sad.
All in all, some good stuff there. But way too many freebies for my taste.
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