| by Jillian Hahn | 12/02/08 | 37 views |
Well, the election has finally come to a close. Now what? Whether or not you thought that Barack Obama was the best person for the job is now a moot point. He is the next president, for better or worse. But what exactly does this mean to us as college students?
Obama has devised ways that should make paying for college easier and less stressful, if the bills are passed. The first way he proposes to do this is to eliminate the need for a separate application form to apply for federal financial aid. In the future, hopefully, all that we will need to do is check a box on our tax form saying that we are interested in financial aid to pursue education.
Furthermore, he plans on implementing the “American Opportunity Tax Credit”. This will offer the student $4000 for college in exchange for 100 hours of community service. This will cover about two thirds of the cost of a public college, and will allow many students to go to community college at no cost. For the students looking to attend private colleges, well, there are always scholarships. This way, a student can “pay” their way through college by doing what averages to about 7 hours of community service a week. Not bad, considering you would have to work 500 hours at eight dollars an hour for the same amount of money. And that’s before the government takes its obligatory bite out of your paycheck.
Looking at college student friendly financial policies, Obama is planning on raising the minimum wage again to account for inflation. This should allow someone working full time at minimum wage to at least be able to provide for basic needs for themselves and their families. He will be adjusting credit card policies to be more user friendly, with no more fine print. He will attempt to provide a credit card ranking system to provide at-a-glance information on what kind of benefits and fees your card carries.
Barack Obama, like many presidents before him, has some lofty goals to revolutionize the way Americans do things and allow people to be happier and healthier. While many of the solutions have to start with the people, not the government, he has proposed some changes that may, indeed, make a difference. At the very least, with Obama around, we shouldn’t have to worry about getting drafted.
     
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University of Delaware
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