[caption id=”attachment_148208″ align=”aligncenter” width=”3768″]Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton announces her college affordability plan, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, at the High School in Exeter, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
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Hillary Clinton’s New College Compact limits educational opportunity for students, according to Steven Bahls, president of Augustana College in Illinois.
Clinton’s $350 billion plan, designed to make college more affordable and decrease student debt, excludes private colleges and universities from most of its provisions.
“Clinton’s plan, while well-intentioned, sends the wrong message to America’s lower income families and first generation college students,” Bahls wrote in a Washington Post column.
Clinton’s proposal would provide money to states that guarantee low tuition at public universities, and would increase funding for schools that enroll more low-income students.
Bahls argues that the plan would encourage students to only attend public schools, limiting their opportunity to freely choose between types of educational institutions. He said the plan also perpetuates the myth that only wealthy students can attend private schools, when in reality the income demographics for private and public schools are very similar, and the amount of debt students incur at private school is only marginally higher than those who attend public school.
Despite the flaws in her plan, Bahls gave Clinton credit for trying to bring more money to higher education, and making the issue a topic of discussion among the presidential candidates.
“Clinton is to be applauded for using her candidacy to lift up college access early in the campaign. But all candidates, Democratic and Republican, need to depoliticize higher education and commit to finding common ground that prioritizes college access and affordability,” he said.
(h/t Washington Post)
