The great advantage of the United States has always been our ability to create opportunity.
We have a unique society that encourages and incentivizes opening doors to others. And in doing so, we have fostered innovation, economic growth and a more equitable society.
Opportunity for each of us comes from a blend of public, private and personal investments of money, time and creative energy. But just because each journey is unique, that doesn’t mean the government does not play a key institutional role.
Pell Grants are critical in facilitating individual opportunity. More than 150,000 Arizonans a year receive Pell Grants to help pay for college, getting an average of more than $3,500 per student.
To the non-politicized eye, it would seem like a good thing that there is a program allowing more kids to go to college by removing financial barriers. But these days, even functional government programs that help build the kind of society we want aren’t safe from political attacks.
Last week, Rep. Jeff Flake blamed the rising cost of college tuition on Pell Grants. Flake told the Washington Times: “How in the world can you deny a relationship between Pell Grants and the cost of education? I think that’s putting your head in the sand.”
Flake is saying this because it fits into his world view that government can’t do things for the people. That’s fine that he holds that belief, but it’s not reflective of the facts.
Funding for Pell Grants hasn’t come even close to keeping up with the rising cost of tuition. In 1976, Pell Grants covered 72 percent of the cost of college. Today, it’s just 32 percent. Additionally, the Department of Education and a number of leading education groups and economists have concluded there is no correlation between the amount of assistance provided through Pell Grants and the cost of tuition.
To me, a debate about rising tuition costs should start with an honest assessment of the reasons for the problem and its ramifications. But in today’s hyper-politicized world, our political leaders aren’t assessing the facts before launching a partisan attack.
In this world view of stark — and sometimes imaginary — contrasts, there is an “us” vs. “them” polarity set up for any argument. This is what compels politicians to take stands against programs that work and to shoot down ideas that would move us forward.
I don’t need partisan talking points to know that creating opportunity for more students by making education affordable and accessible works — I lived it.
When I got home from Vietnam, I was a combat-decorated Special Forces soldier. But I didn’t have a high school diploma because I had dropped out, and so I struggled to get into college. I got my start at Bronx Community College, but only because of an open enrollment program for veterans.
That was society opening a door for me, and I ran through it.
I became a doctor, police officer, a Distinguished University Professor and later the 17th Surgeon General of the United States and businessman. But none of that would have happened had there not been the opportunity to get my education.
I understand that some government programs don’t work as well as they should. People are rightfully frustrated by that. But being guided by an ideology that all government is bad blinds you to real successes. And politicians who ignore the facts in favor of partisan spin block us from solving problems.
Dr. Richard Carmona is the 17th Surgeon General of the United States and a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate for Arizona.
IceCat posted at 10:51 am on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
[smile] Wow, someone running for a high political office in Arizona that actually makes sense.
Rich posted at 11:08 am on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
"...Additionally, the Department of Education and a number of leading education groups and economists have concluded there is no correlation between the amount of assistance provided through Pell Grants and the cost of tuition."
In other words, the people who get it, conclude it is free. I would be really surprised if they didn't. And I sort of doubt that, without them colleges and universities would line up in bankruptcy court, and students would be wandering the streets in search of knowledge.
Everybody wants access to tax money. Government grows and grows placing ever greater burdens on those who create wealth, on producers. Until now government is played out, too big to do anything right, it has gone from democracy to bureaucracy and the bureaucracy scrambles after both real and borrowed production to back it and an anarchy of rules, procedures and policies. Of course Pell grants raise tuition costs, as well as degrade higher education. It is what government does now. About the only thing it does.
Deborah41 posted at 11:24 am on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
Great, just what we need...another big-government liberal politician.
Haven't we spent enough already? Haven't we grown government enough already?
Not in Richard Carmona's eyes.
bonnie posted at 1:22 pm on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
Creating opportunity and maintaining a social safety net for people in need are guiding principles that differentiate us from Third World countries.
I have traveled in places where the poorest people are uneducated and live in squalor with no hope of change, while the tiniest minority sail through life with every luxury. Do you think that can't happen here? I would hope America is more compassionate than that.
chatmandu002 posted at 1:47 pm on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
Get the federal government out of the education business. After 40+ years the federal government has proven it can't do the job. Eliminate the department of education, return responsibility for education to the states and local boards along with the money. Stop federal student loans expect for veterans.
DemocraticDad posted at 2:26 pm on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
I was fortunate enough to go to Brooklyn College of the City University of New York when the tuition was free if you had the grades to get in (free tuition ended 1976). It was the only way I could afford to go to college. I went on to become a successful teacher and school administrator living a solid middle class lifestyle. I helped the American economy by paying taxes, purchasing my own home, buying new cars, going on vacations and paying for my 2 son's college education. So tell me, how was my free college tuition detrimental to this country?
chuckles3 posted at 4:38 pm on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
"So tell me, how was my free college tuition detrimental to this country?"
lol. It was free for you, not the poor middle class slobs around you actually paying tuition.
A couple of them probably had to drop out because their college wasn't "free."
What a mindset you dope. I know people who worked 3 jobs to go to college. I worked 2. Were you too good for minimum wage jobs?
Dale Whiting posted at 4:48 pm on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
Clearly Carmona makes more sense than does Flake!
Rich posted at 6:42 pm on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
Have to go along with chuckles here. Some of us paid to go. Admittedly we're older now. I had two jobs through my bachelors, one through a masters. And if you were a teacher then an administrator, you might just be a part of the problem, and I'd call that detrimental. Education you work for and at. You have to be curious, look and find, and it has to cost something, or it's worth nothing. Anybody can fill a chair in a classroom. A few actually learn something beyond their teacher's prejudices, and for them, it's never free, from grade school on.
geekette posted at 7:06 pm on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
Chukles, don't call people names, it does nothing to forward your point. City University of New York was free to all residents of the city. If you paid New York City taxes, you could go to any of the colleges in the system.
samkat posted at 7:42 pm on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
Lets see. Flake was provided a four year degree from BYU for serving a 2 year church mission. Knowing the LDS church, they probably found a way to obtain the money for his tuition expenses from the federal government in one fashion or another so what is the difference?
Rich posted at 9:10 pm on Fri, Mar 30, 2012.
Actually geekette, his line "lol. It was free for you, not the poor middle class slobs around you actually paying tuition." Isn't that far off. Lived in the Twenties, between Fourth and Fifth for quite a while. The people who paid Brooklyn Dad's tuition, didn't have it quite that good, or that free.
Dale Whiting posted at 7:41 am on Sat, Mar 31, 2012.
Let's see "samkat" if you have a clue about what you are saying?
BYU is a private school, meaning it gets no state school funding. Sure it's various professors are eligible for federal grants for such things as research, but it is neither a Land Grant institution nor a participlant in any routine government funding. As a private school, its tuition is therefore much higher than it's state equivalents.
Now for your second hypothesis, the quid pro quo. Less than half of its student body went on "missions." Some are not members. And they do pay a higher tuition, a marginally higher tuition. Not unlike most schools approximately half of the student body are women. And few of them serve missions. Most women who do serve missions are 21 and older and being that old, many have completed their education without obligations of any sorts.
So "samkat," clearly you are full of it! Perhaps you need to empty your litter box and fill it with something more usefull?
All of this said, I still stand behind my statement. "Clearly Carmona makes more sense than does Flake!"
Leon Ceniceros posted at 9:27 am on Sat, Mar 31, 2012.
Dr. Carmona.....when did you start caring so much about ...."PELL GRANTS".......when you decided to run for the ............DEMOCRAT PARTY NOMINEE FOR US SENATOR FROM ARIZONA.
$35,000,000,000.00 = $35 BILLION DOLLARS JUST IN 2012 ....PELL GRANTS
THE US GOVERNMENT IS ALREAD IN THE HOLE FOR......$1,000,000,000,000.00 = $1 TRILLION DOLLARS (with a Capital ...."T"...).
WHEN ARE DEMOCRATS LIKE.......DR. CARMONA....GOING TO REALIZE THAT YOU .......CAN'T DIG YOURSELF OUT OF A FINANCIAL HOLE......BY DIGGING HARDER.
WE HAVE TO START.......CUTTING BACK ON ....SPENDING....SPENDING....SPENDING.
AMERICA HAS A ...$15,000,000,000,000.00 = $15 TRILLION DOLLAR DEFICT.
I KNOW THAT THE $35 BILLION DOLLAR PELL GRANT COST IS......"CHUMP-CHANGE"....TO DEMOCRATS LIKE........DR. CARMONA....AND ...BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA..........BUT AMERICA-LOVING ARIZONIANS DO CARE ABOUT THE DEFICT AND DON'T WANT TO ELECT ANYMORE......"TAX-TAX-TAX AND SPEND-SPEND-SPEND" .....DEMOCRATS TO WASHINGTON, D.C.
davidflucier posted at 8:03 am on Tue, Apr 3, 2012.
The salient point here is that, according to Flake, "Pell grants are the cause of rising tuition".
By Flake's "rational" approach, the same case could be made for breast feeding...it is breast feeding that is the cause for rising tuition costs!
Can Flake say and understand the words, "non sequitur"?
It's time to save ourselves from the irrational and the unthinking and vote FOR the rational, for common sense, for a better educated Arizona, and for a better future now...vote for Carmona for US Senate.