| Student Voters Look to Candidates for Answers to | | | | Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, |
| Crisis in Student Loans and College Affordability | | | | outlines a host of national education proposals that |
| With problems growing in the student loan industry, | | | | span early childhood education to college; McCain, the |
| spurred both by an ongoing credit crunch with its | | | | presumptive Republican nominee, focuses on |
| roots in the subprime mortgage crisis and by | | | | supporting local education initiatives and expanding |
| congressional legislation that cut subsidies to lenders | | | | virtual learning opportunities. |
| of federal student loans, the affordability of a higher | | | | Both candidates have taken a stand on three issues |
| education has remained at the forefront of young | | | | in particular aimed at promoting college affordability |
| Americans’ minds this election year. | | | | and accessibility: |
| Increases in college tuition continue to outstrip the | | | | Federal Pell Grants. McCain encourages incremental |
| rate of inflation. Families, hurt by mounting | | | | increases in federal Pell Grant awards that would |
| unemployment and high gas and food prices, are | | | | better keep up with the rising cost of a college |
| applying for federal grants and student loans in | | | | education. Both he and Obama supported the College |
| record numbers. | | | | Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, which |
| Lenders, crippled by troubles in the nation’s | | | | raised the maximum Pell Grant award from $4,050 to |
| credit markets and by a lack of subsidies that have | | | | $5,400. |
| made federal college loans largely unprofitable, are | | | | Federal student loans. McCain backs the expansion of |
| dropping out of the federal student loan business and | | | | the Federal Family Education Loan Program, which |
| tightening credit criteria on their non-federal private | | | | provides federal subsidies to private lenders that |
| student loans or abandoning these credit-based | | | | offer government-backed parent and student loans |
| private loans altogether — leaving thousands | | | | as a third-party provider. Obama wants to eliminate |
| of families scrambling to find a source for their | | | | the FFEL program and its subsidies, directing |
| federal and private student loans. | | | | borrowers instead to the government’s Direct |
| Students needing private student loans to | | | | Loan Program, in which families take out their federal |
| supplement the federal college loans they have been | | | | college loans directly from the Department of |
| able to get can’t find co-signers with credit | | | | Education and which he maintains is less costly for |
| scores high enough to satisfy lenders’ | | | | taxpayers than the FFEL program. |
| increasingly stringent credit criteria. And parents, who | | | | Public service programs. McCain supports an |
| historically have been able to borrow against the | | | | expansion of the Teach for America program, which |
| value of their house or draw on their investments to | | | | places college graduates in low-income school districts |
| provide the additional financing their college children | | | | across the country, under an accelerated |
| may have needed, have watched their stock values | | | | teacher-certification process. Obama has put forth |
| and home equity evaporate in the post-subprime | | | | the idea of an American Opportunity Tax Credit, |
| housing and financial breakdown. | | | | which would give students a $4,000 tax credit |
| Making Their Voice Heard — Finally — at | | | | toward a college education at a public college or |
| the Polls | | | | university in exchange for 100 hours of public service. |
| Against this backdrop of a rocky student loan | | | | Obama also calls for an expansion of the Peace |
| landscape and a still-distressed economy, Barack | | | | Corps and AmeriCorps community service programs. |
| Obama’s and John McCain’s proposals | | | | Obama Leading McCain in the Charge to Win Over |
| to boost college accessibility may prove to be a | | | | Youth Vote |
| deciding factor in swaying the emergent youth vote, | | | | With the general election only two months away, the |
| those ballots being cast by the normally non-voting | | | | candidates have little time left to get the word out |
| 18- to 30-year-olds that have already proven to be a | | | | to students that they care about the issues young |
| powerful force on the road to this year’s | | | | Americans are facing. And up to this point, Obama |
| electoral showdown. | | | | has clearly made more of a direct effort than McCain |
| “Frustrated by feckless Washington, energized | | | | to specifically target college students and other |
| by the unscripted, pundit-baffling freedom of a | | | | young adults. |
| wide-open race, young people are voting in numbers | | | | Between Feb. 1 and July 31, Obama held 32 campaign |
| rarely seen since the general election of 1972 | | | | events in college towns; McCain held three. And the |
| — the first in which the voting age was | | | | McCain campaign has yet to publicly announce an |
| lowered to 18,” wrote David Von Drehle back | | | | official youth outreach or youth vote campaign |
| in January, in his piece, “The Year of the | | | | director. Obama, on the other hand, has hired former |
| Youth Vote,” for Time magazine. | | | | Rock the Vote political director Hans Reimer. Polls |
| More than 6.5 million voters under the age of 30 | | | | show Obama leading McCain among young voters by |
| participated in the 2008 presidential primaries and | | | | 20 percent. |
| caucuses, making the age group an important | | | | “Obama has enjoyed impressive support from |
| demographic for presidential hopefuls Obama and | | | | young people since entering the race, and the |
| McCain at a time when national polls show the two | | | | chances of his throngs of voters inexplicably |
| candidates are statistically tied or separated by only | | | | switching their allegiance are about as good as McCain |
| single digits in the race for the White House. | | | | creating his own Second Life avatar,” Kroll |
| Both candidates are eyeing the votes of this | | | | writes. |
| emerging voting population — “an | | | | While young Republicans have complained that McCain |
| estimated 50 million Twittering, text messaging, | | | | hasn’t done enough to reach out to the |
| iPod-toting young voters” — in the final | | | | voters of Generation Y, the senator’s young |
| stretches of this year’s general election, | | | | supporters haven’t given up hope. |
| writes The Nation columnist Andy Kroll. | | | | Justin York, a grassroots youth organizer for McCain |
| Candidates Speak to Higher Education Issues | | | | in Florida and a junior at the University of Central |
| Affecting Young Voters | | | | Florida, points out that Ronald Reagan, nearly |
| In their quest to woo these young voters, the | | | | McCain’s age in 1984, won the majority of |
| candidates have promoted education platforms that | | | | youth voters in his re-election bid and that the first |
| could give them the edge they need among the | | | | President Bush, at the age of 64, also captured the |
| country’s 16 million college students and their | | | | majority of youth voters just four years later. |
| families. | | | | |