Would Obama's Community Service Plan Pay Off for College Students?
It has yet to be seen what campaign promises President-elect Barack Obama can deliver on, but students and parents around the nation are excited about his pledge to make higher education more affordable.
President-elect Barack Obama: On the campaign trail, Barack Obama campaigned on offering a $4,000 tax credit to students who performed community service. Courtesy photo
"It is a fantastic idea," said Suzanne Swink, an American University graduate student studying in the School of International Service. Swink also works as a legislative assistant and said that she would recommend her boss pass this measure if it came to fruition. She estimates that she took $85,000 in loans to pay for her education.
"Four thousand isn't going to put much of a dent... I'll probably end up paying $200,000 with interest," she said.
President-elect Barack Obama campaigned on a platform that promised a "universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans..." In exchange, "recipients of the credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of community service."
Obama's representatives did not respond to numerous requests seeking comment.
American University charged $32,816 per student in tuition for the 2008-09 school year. According to the Annual Survey of Colleges 2008, a report filed through the AU Office of Institutional Research for data collected in the fall of 2007, the average need-based loan for students was $6,613. Obama's tax credit would almost meet this need.
The second part to Obama's plan, the 100 hours of community service, did not concern two prospective students recently visiting the university.
"I already do a lot," said high school senior Rasheedat Sulaimon of the Trenton area in NJ. She plans to take some financial aid to help pay for the education and said the $4,000 would go toward books and supplies, if available.
"I think its a fabulous idea, "said Elizabeth Krall, mother to visiting student Sophie, both from Hartford, Conn. "I think everyone should do community service." Krall plans to pay for much of her daughter's education with family money, but that the tax credit would help pay for the commute to and from school.
Even if passed as intended, Shirleyne McDonald, the associate director of financial aid at AU does not believe that much will change.
"I know there is a whole lot of talk around this, but pretty much these programs have been pretty stable over the last 20 years," said McDonald, who has been working in financial aid offices at several D.C. area colleges for the last 12 years.
"When passing legislation to update existing laws, often times there is a disconnect between what exists and what they want to see," said McDonald. She has seen efforts by both republican and democratic presidents and said "the differences have been minimal."
Higher education is expensive. About 66 percent of the AU undergraduate student body receive merit or need-based assistance to help pay for their education, said McDonald.
Nationwide, private not-for-profit educational institutions like AU, reported 73.1 percent of the student body received some federal aid in the 2003 - 2004 school year, which is the most recent data available, according to the National Center for Education Statistics digest report in 2007. The cumulative amount borrowed by the average undergraduate student that year was $15,458.
But what would a $4,000 tax credit cost the government? Using projected numbers provided by the Department of Education for 2010, a year that Obama's plan could be in place, the expected enrollment of students in degree-granting institutions is 18,839,000. If all students qualified for the tax credit, the total credit could be more than $75 billion given back to individuals.
For more on this topic:
Barack Obama's campaign Web site
Digest of Education Statistics, 2007
American University - Office of Institutional Research
