Bill aims to ease college costs
Sacramento Bee 4/15/07
Assemblyman Mike Feuer said his goal is to ease the financial burden of obtaining a degree at a California public university while boosting community services from tutoring to homeless shelters to emergency response.
"People who devote their life to performing some form of public service are, to my way of thinking, doing the most honorable work one can think of," said Feuer, D-Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, many college students pile up such high debt obtaining their bachelor's degree -- often $20,000 or more -- that their priority upon graduation is money, not civic service, Feuer said.
"I think there's something missing if one's aspiration upon graduation is only to earn sufficient funds to make ends meet and repay loans," he said. "We can do so much more than that."
Feuer's measure, Assembly Bill 1267, is lauded conceptually by colleagues of both major parties, but many say it could be difficult or impossible to launch until the state's financial condition steadies.
Jim Uhler, spokesman for the National Tax Limitation Committee, said Feuer's proposal reflects a tendency to spend hard-earned taxpayers' dollars on "utopian, feel-good" schemes.
Asks Uhler: Why should someone earning low wages flipping hamburgers be forced to pay personal debts of some stranger at an acclaimed university?
"These people took on these debts voluntarily," he said. "Why should taxpayers be stuck paying them off?"
Four years of tuition and fees would total about $29,500 for University of California students and $13,800 for California State University students, based on rates in the proposed state budget for the next fiscal year.
AB 1267 would approve the debt-assistance program contingent upon funding. Participation could be capped, if necessary.
Feuer said he also is exploring the possibility of private funding, or a combination of state and corporate monies.
"It's a challenging budget year -- and I'm acutely aware of that," he said.
AB 1267 would provide for either a one-year or two-year service commitment. The state's repayment obligation would vary, depending partly on a participant's time served and partly on whether the service was volunteer or paid employment.
Four years of tuition and fees at a University of California or California State University campus would be provided for two years of service as a peace officer, firefighter, paramedic or emergency medical technician in communities that are having trouble recruiting or retaining personnel.
The same deal would be offered for employment in various nonprofit organizations, such as homeless shelters or programs for gang intervention, hunger, drug addiction, disaster response and environmental preservation.
Volunteer service in such nonprofit groups would qualify participants for two years of college tuition and fees in exchange for two years of service, totaling at least 600 hours annually.
AB 1267 would apply only to enrolled students who have been approved for a state or federal loan. The legislation would not pay for food, books or housing costs, nor would it guarantee finding civic jobs.
Participants would be contractually obligated to repay if they defaulted on their service commitment, Feuer said.
Numerous details of AB 1267 have yet to be negotiated, such as whether financial need would be considered or what kinds of applicants would receive priority if participation were limited.
AB 1267 is scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday by the Assembly Higher Education Committee. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken no position on the bill.
Five students interviewed randomly Friday at UC Davis all applauded AB 1267, but they had mixed views on how many students would apply for aid.
"If someone was going to pay for my tuition for four years, I'd probably do it," said Emily Bagby, 20.
But Travares Moore, 25, said most students aren't looking for temporary jobs.
"You don't want to work for two years -- you want a career," he said.
Antonia Oakley, a 24-year-old graduate student, said taxpayers would benefit from AB 1267.
"There's a lot of benefit in having public service work done by young people with novel ideas and a lot of energy," she said.
California has no broad-based loan assumption program, but it has offered financial assistance to encourage new lawyers to take low-paying jobs in civic service, for example, or to entice new teachers to serve needy schools or to specialize in math, science or other subjects where shortages exist.
Feuer said AB 1267 stemmed from his experiences as director of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, which provided free legal services to the needy.
"I have a deeply held view that the most important aspect of life is to matter," he said. "And I want to inspire ways to do that."
Assemblyman Jim Beall, a San Jose Democrat who sits on the Higher Education Committee, said loan-assumption programs help students follow their hearts without going broke.
"It's well worth our while to invest in that," he said.
Assemblyman Doug La Malfa, R-Oroville, said he could support incentives for civic service jobs, but not volunteerism.
"I think people should volunteer because it comes from their heart," he said.
Uhler said taxpayers would be shafted by AB 1267 because they would be assured only two years of civic service for subsidizing an education that can pay personal dividends for decades.
"Once their obligation is over, they have the potential to make hundreds of thousands of dollars," Uhler said of participants.