Making college affordable for students, strengthening thequality of the curriculum and promoting diversity in highereducation have seemed to take a back seat to other foreign anddomestic issues this election year.
But they're still at the forefront of students' minds; studentslike Ball State sophomore Paul Best.
"Higher education is an important issue, and it is always acurrent one," Best, an English secondary education major, said."Education is never obsolete."
< B>MAKE COLLEGE AFFORDABLE< B>
Randy Hyman, dean of students, said amid the many issues thathave been emphasized in higher education throughout recent years,the chief focus in today's society centers around making collegeaffordable for students .
Robert Zellers, director of scholarships and financial aid, saidproviding funding for grant programs in particular is a major issuehe would like to see addressed. According to congressweb.com, thefederal Pell Grant award was frozen at a maximum of $4,050 per yearfor the third year in a row this year.
< B>BUSH, KERRY ON EDUCATION< B>
According to musicforamerica.org, President George W. Bushemphasized offering an enhanced Pell Grant of an additional $1000to students who take a "sufficiently rigorous" high schoolcurriculum determined by the State Scholars Program. His otherapproaches to address higher education financial issues haveincluded providing an additional $84 million for year-round PellGrants for students who graduate early and increasing AmeriCorpsEducation Awards.
According to the site, Sen. John Kerry has focused on offering acollege opportunity tax credit on up to $4000 of tuition for fouryears of college, simplifying the student aid application processand expanding tutoring, mentoring and college preparation classesthrough initiatives such as GEAR UP. His other approaches haveincluded creating a program to allow students who serve two yearsin volunteer programs in rural and urban communities to receivefull tuition at a four-year university.
Best said both Bush and Kerry provide solid suggestions forimproving higher education, particularly because both focus on theimportance of getting more students enrolled in college whonormally wouldn't be able to afford it.
< B>DANIELS, KERNAN TAKE SIDES< B>
On the state level, a recent evaluation of state performance inhigher education gave Indiana poor marks for affordability based onthe percentage of family income required to attend colleges anduniversities throughout the state, according to the JournalGazette. In early 2004, Gov. Joe Kernan emphasized placing a cap ontuition hikes in Indiana, holding tuition increases for the nextschool year to four percent or less. Opponent Mitch Daniels'campaign suggested that even the four percent increase might be toomuch, according to the Journal Gazette.
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