I have never intended to write about politics, but I receive an interesting email from my state's financial aid association that included a website link to major presidential candidates and their view on certain topics, one of which is financial aid and higher education. Since I have read through the list and researched each candidate's website, I decided to provide you with a brief summary. Keep in mind that the list is nonpartisan, and names are given in alphabetical order. The information has been taken from each candidate's website only, and nothing from the media. I couldn't resist adding some comments of my own to give you some points to think about. I am not endorsing any candidate!

The following is an abbreviated list of the first few candidates' proposals. Tomorrow night I'll post the rest to keep these postings from getting too lengthy.

Joe Biden (Democrat):

• Consolidate the Hope Scholarship and Tuition and Fees Reduction and replace them with a $3,000 per year College ACCESS refundable tax credit. Too many families are unaware of, or confused by, the Hope Scholarship, Lifetime Learning Credit, and Tuition and Fee Reduction credit. Many eligible families are not taking advantage of the tax credits. Simplifying the tax credits will help families to understand. The $3,000 would be refundable to low-income families to take advantage during the year.
• Increase Pell Grant from $4,310 to $6,300 over a five year period, beginning 2007-08. So where will the funds come from to increase the Pell Grant?

Hillary Rodham Clinton (Democrat):

• Raise the HOPE tax credit from the current $1,650 to $3,500 and make part of it refundable during the academic year to help low-income families and families who need assistance when the tuition bill is due rather than at tax time. Taxpayers will be able to claim 100% of the first $1,000 of college expenses, and 50% of the next $5,000. This was listed as a proposal to create a new $3,500 College Tax Credit, but it looks more like a modification to the existing HOPE credit to me.
• Increase the maximum Pell Grant on an annual basis. No amounts were mentioned.
• Provide $500 million in incentive grants for investments by community colleges. The purpose of this program is to encourage and support graduation rates at community colleges, and partner with 4-year colleges to accept transfer hours.
• Create a $250 million Graduation Fund to provide incentive grants aimed at 4-year colleges to design performance-based efforts to improve graduation rates, especially with low-income and minority students.
• With $250 million, support on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs that allow students to apply relevant skills with academic training. Programs would be alignment with the economy.
• Increase the AmeriCorps (now Segal Education Award) award to $10,000 to better cover educational costs.
• Eliminate the FAFSA. The application is considered to be burdensome, especially since the IRS has most of the FAFSA information already. Her proposal is to allow families to apply for financial aid by checking a box on their income tax return. The Department of Education would then provide an eligibility letter and coupon, which the student would include as information on their college application. This opens a myriad of problems, in my opinion. Most signifantly, students often file the FAFSA before taxes are filed, and college applications are completed long before the FAFSA and taxes are filed.
• Funding: Clinton's estimate of $8 billion per year to fund these proposals will be financed by eliminating the Federal Family Educational Loan Program (Stafford Loans), which would save the government money on backing loans, and by freezing the federal estate tax. The only federal student loan program would be the Federal Direct Loan.

Christopher Dodd (Democrat):

• Keep Stafford Loans, but make banks compete in a federal auction for rights in making student loans. Dodd feels this would benefit students with lower interest rates, and generate at least $18 billion in government savings to be used for additional financial aid for students.
• The Dodd plan will match dollar for dollar any tuition reduction offered by states up to 50% of the cost of tuition at community colleges, and subsidized in-state tuition at public community colleges to make education affordable to all. This plan would also offer low-cost bonds to community colleges to expand facilities for increased student enrollment. Quite honestly, I couldn't follow this proposal.
• The Pell Grant will be raised by $100 each year. I assume there is no cap on how many years the increase will be available. Does $100 really make college more affordable?
• By publishing an annual tuition inflation index, students will know what colleges are unreasonable increasing their tuition. This is aimed at disclosing tuition rates to help students budget and make informed decisions on attending a certain college.
• Alternative loan lenders will be held accountable for their marketing campaigns to provide accurate information and full disclosure of all fees, repayment information, and interest rates under the Truth in Lending Act. Currently, this act does not apply to private lenders.

The rest of the presidential candidates will be posted tomorrow night. Remember, this list is in alphabetical order and no weight is given to the candidate's political platform.

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