2008 Woodie Awards
Pell-mell into debtor's hell
Derek Simons
Issue date: 10/13/08 Section: Forum
It was largely submerged by other dire financial news from the last few weeks, but some of you may have read about the Pell Grant credit crunch.
Incoming! This year, 800,000 more students asked for a slice of the financial aid pie. The New York Times reported the government is facing a $6 billion shortfall next year for the Pell program.
The simple decision facing the government is A) find more cash, B) reduce the amount of bucks going to each recipient or C) award aid to less people.
Now, $6 billion may seem like a lot of money to you and me, but if you think about how much cash those folk in Washington throw around each day on the silliest projects imaginable - projects like country-smashing and country-rebuilding, or giving $25 billion to the three big-car companies in Detroit to invent something auto manufacturers elsewhere have been producing for years - then $6 billion starts to look like peanuts.
Unfortunately, college students are somehow considered by legislators (at both the state and national level) to be little more than money-producing animals caged in classrooms, and some of these legislators have posted big signs saying, "Don't feed the animals."
No peanuts for us.
I've spent most of my life in Europe, living between Ireland and Italy. Perhaps you might find a few comparisons with that neck of the woods interesting.
My friends in Dublin get paid to go to university. Yes, you read that right.
Not only is tuition free, but, as the government considers investing in education one of the most important initiatives it can take, it gives students a modest monthly allowance.
This is based on a bizarre (at least for here in the United States) concept: Students study better when they don't have to also work 30 or 40-hour weeks.
In Florence (and other Italian cities), hardly a year goes by without students protesting against the government over education issues. Last year they were so angry they occupied the university for a week, completely shutting down all campus operations.
Incoming! This year, 800,000 more students asked for a slice of the financial aid pie. The New York Times reported the government is facing a $6 billion shortfall next year for the Pell program.
The simple decision facing the government is A) find more cash, B) reduce the amount of bucks going to each recipient or C) award aid to less people.
Now, $6 billion may seem like a lot of money to you and me, but if you think about how much cash those folk in Washington throw around each day on the silliest projects imaginable - projects like country-smashing and country-rebuilding, or giving $25 billion to the three big-car companies in Detroit to invent something auto manufacturers elsewhere have been producing for years - then $6 billion starts to look like peanuts.
Unfortunately, college students are somehow considered by legislators (at both the state and national level) to be little more than money-producing animals caged in classrooms, and some of these legislators have posted big signs saying, "Don't feed the animals."
No peanuts for us.
I've spent most of my life in Europe, living between Ireland and Italy. Perhaps you might find a few comparisons with that neck of the woods interesting.
My friends in Dublin get paid to go to university. Yes, you read that right.
Not only is tuition free, but, as the government considers investing in education one of the most important initiatives it can take, it gives students a modest monthly allowance.
This is based on a bizarre (at least for here in the United States) concept: Students study better when they don't have to also work 30 or 40-hour weeks.
In Florence (and other Italian cities), hardly a year goes by without students protesting against the government over education issues. Last year they were so angry they occupied the university for a week, completely shutting down all campus operations.
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