Obama says college should be affordable for everyone. Should it?

“We need to put a college education within reach of every American. That's the best investment we can make in our future. I'll create a new and fully refundable tax credit worth $4,000 for tuition and fees every year, which will cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university. I'll also simplify the financial aid application process so that we don't have a million students who aren't applying for aid because it's too difficult. I will start by eliminating the current student aid form altogether - we'll use tax data instead.”
[Barack Obama, Reclaiming the American Dream Speech, Bettendorf, IA, 11/7/07]

The catch? The recipients of the $4,000 have to do a 100 hours of community work. Over a year's time. Now that's equal to $40 an hour. Tee hee. You've gotta be kidding me? I mean, at least give the plan some credence by creating the appearance that the student is really working for the money, huh? Try 500 hours of community work. That's $8 an hour...better than minimum wage, and it'll show the student is really sacrificing himself for his education. Or her education. Read about Obama's plan here.

My alumni center at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Do we really need to make college affordable for everyone? Making it part of the American Dream - something to shoot for, yeh. But that's different. Owning a home is part of the American Dream and we all know the sad, fucked up state of affairs that industry is in. Greed - by both the lender and the borrower. And the Democrats wanna help the assholes who lost their homes who shouldn't have signed the mortgage papers in the first place.

Do I believe everyone deserves the best education they can get? No, as a matter of fact. I think they should get the best education they can afford. I believe that today any education beyond high school is a privilege - not a right. And I don't think the government should be handing out free money to everyone and anyone - particularly in this day and age.

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1986 but I wasn't handed $4000 as President Obama is suggesting.

1. I come from a middle-class family. I received a $500 scholarship for graduating in the top 10% of my class. That's all the free money my hands touched. The rest was one loan. And I was in debt after graduating but I paid it off. "Best education"? No. Good? Yes. Would I have opted for Harvard? Sure. I got what my parent's could afford.

2. I worked for two years as an RA (resident assistant) which paid for my room and board.

3. I worked as a bartender for the student union my senior year. Learned to love green olives.

4. I graduated in 4 years. I didn't dick around. I took the classes that I needed, studied, partied and got out.

I'd like a new car. Should a new car be made affordable to me? It'll probably get better gas mileage than the one I'm driving and the environmentalists would eat that shit up. I need to get out of my current living situation. Why doesn't the government give me money toward an affordable one-bedroom apartment? It'll help me keep my peace-of-mind intact and I'll be able to get more writing done. The more plays I complete, the more work I'll have to submit for production and the more I can contribute to the arts in our country. The arts are big on Democrat's agendas.

I want, I want, I want. Two points, in particular, in Obama's plan that made me wince:

A. Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid. Why? I had to apply that way. If you can't fill out a 5-page, 127 question document, you shouldn't be attending college.

B. Help Students Become Aware of College Readiness. Another common reason that high school students decide not to attend college is that they discover they are unprepared for it in 12th grade. That's because the teachers are too busy teaching English to kids who can't speak it and the classrooms are too crowded. I know plenty of teachers. Overall, our K-12 educational system sucks.

If one can't afford a four-year college, try a technical college or a two-year college. Learn a trade. Join the military. Put it off until you can afford it. Go to school for a year than work for a year. Those options have always been available. They still there. Here's an idea - why don't individual states stop giving money to illegal aliens to attend college? Sounds like a brilliant fucking idea to me. That would free up additional monies for each state - free for students who are actual U.S. citizens. Two years ago in Wisconsin, for example, a Mexican advocacy group was bitching because the state was cutting funds it was giving to illegal aliens to attend college. Excuse me? "Cutting"? How about "NO MONEY PERIOD"? And in May last year, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and senate Democrats submitted budget proposals to provide in-state resident tuition to illegal aliens who attend UW system schools or technical colleges. I don't know if this was in addition to what was already being given illegal aliens, but the state assembly Republicans defeated this. I've been told by Kark Van Roy's office (State Assembly, 90th District, R-WI) that the Democrats and Doyle will be resubmitting their proposal again this year. Why - I haven't the slightest idea. But I've got a call in Doyle's office to find out.