Not long ago, colleges and universities were restricted to the upper class of America due to the great costs to attend these schools. Education has come a long way since those days, but if things do not get better it is headed back in that direction. The unfortunate part is that a college degree has become a necessity to land a good job, so in effect student loans are necessary to land a stable career. There is a logical idea to solve this tuition “crisis”. President-elect Obama suggests an idea for offering a $4,000 tax credit for students to help pay for tuition in exchange for 100 hours of community service (Sanchez). All parties involved would receive benefits from this bill. The students would benefit, obviously, because tuition would become less of a burden. The schools would benefit because they would not have to use as much money on need-based financial aid. The communities would also see a benefit from this tax credit because of extra volunteer help that would become available. Even the government would benefit despite the money it would cost them.

The government would have to spend about $10 billion a year to be able to supply the $4,000 tax credit. (Sanchez) “Obama says he can save billions of dollars by overhauling the federal student loan program, and creating a system that bypasses banks and private lenders in favor of having the U.S. Education Department run a direct lending program.” (Sanchez) This is a very plausible solution to the one downfall of this proposal. If the cost of the tax credit is not a big hit to the federal governments budget then there would be no reason not to implement this policy. Also, if the federal government is in charge of student loans, then they would benefit from the interest rates that the students pay as opposed to other companies that outsource to students. This would not only be good for the government, but also please students because the government would be in direct charge of your loans instead of some third party company that could kill you with interest.

Most employers like to see at least a Bachelor’s degree from the employees that are applying for their job openings. In order to get that degree though, it seems that most people have to live their 20s in debt. And if the plan is to go on to graduate school, early 30s before the debt can be paid off. Now this credit would not solve student’s debt when it comes to loans. But, cutting off $1,000 dollars a year does add up and help tremendously in the long run. There are people every day that put off going back to school because of the costs. We would see an increase in the number of professionals and, most likely, a decrease in the unemployment rate if school was more affordable. It would cost the government 10 billion dollars a year, but Obama has an aforementioned plan to cut the cost to the federal government. Another goal that this would accomplish is bring a sense of a belonging to a lot of children. Especially if the community service is made where the future college students have to talk to younger children or even high school students and preach the importance of advancing your education. Schools have a lot of speakers and teachers tell students about the importance of education, but if they hear it from people closer to their age they would be more inclined to listen.

This is just one way that the communities can benefit from this tax credit. There are many jobs that students can do to achieve that 100 hours of community service. All of which would help the community in some way. For example, students could pick up trash, volunteer at hospitals, or other events in the communities that need the extra help. If more children find a positive environment when they are growing up it might lead to a decrease in crimes and an increase in their school performance.

The schools are trying very hard not to raise their tuition and trying to keep class sizes small. This is extremely hard to achieve though because there was a 5 to 7 percent cut to public colleges budget (Batts). Schools are having to cut other parts of the budget just to keep the tuition somewhat affordable. For example, the University of Virginia is deferring over $600,000 in maintenance to the facilities in effort to save money (“College”). The University of Virginia is one of the most historical campus’ in Virginia and they are deferring maintenance to their campus in order to alleviate costs for their students. Another example is at Virginia Commonwealth University they are reducing the course offerings because of the budget cuts (“College”). With a reduction of course offerings, the size of classes will be increased and, “…it is already hard to find an empty seat at VCU.” (“College”) With Obama’s proposed $4,000 tax credit college’s problems like this could be helped. Schools like the University of Virginia could afford to pay that $600,000 to maintain the beauty of the school. After all, campus beauty and history are also factors in choosing a college. If schools like the University of Virginia have to start cutting maintenance costs that might deter prospective students from attending. Virginia Commonwealth could afford to pay the number of teachers to allow them to keep course selection high. The number of courses offered is inversely proportional to the class sizes. If the number of courses increases, the size of the classes will decrease. Just imagine if tuition does have to be continually raised for the foreseeable future. Take for example community colleges. The appeal of community colleges is that they are affordable and it allows millions of students a year to go to school and get started on their education at an affordable rate. These colleges lose their appeal and will probably lose many professionals in the future if the tuition has to keep going up. If this tax credit is implemented not as much need-based financial aid would have to be taken out of their budget. The tax credit would, in essence, give students $1,000 a year in financial aid which can be back into the schools budget. This would keep the appeal of school around to current and prospective students.

The state of the economy is affecting everyone from the federal government to the college student. President-elect Obama’s proposal for a $4,000 tax credit would help the college student and also the federal government in a way. One-hundred hours of community service for every student that would want $4,000 would put a lot of hours back into the community. If it is looked at it from a monetary standpoint that is $40 an hour to help out your community. There are not many people that would not take a job taking $40 an hour, especially students in high school. Again though, this is not only beneficial to the students. This tax credit would benefit children, adults and universities. Not to mention, people would find out how good it feels to give to others in the form of community service.