Rising Tuition

This blog is about the cost of higher education. How does Bush plan on getting more students to go to college? When their parents are making less money than what they need to attend college. The information that I am using to today came from Platforms and Promises. Why is it, that since Bush has been president, the tuition has gone up? When Clinton was in office the tuition was at a very reasonable price and middle class families could afford it. Take my family for example: My parents together make less than 80,000 dollars a year, my mom is going to school, I have two younger brothers that are both in high school and I am trying to go to college. With the rising tuition cost, I can barely afford to go to school. My parents are in debt up to their elbows and I can’t get any aid from the government because they say my parents make too much money? “Rising tuition costs have made the federal government's growing role in making college tuition affordable a campaign topic in this year's presidential election.” I think they need to lower the cost of tuition, how can it be so high with as bad as the economy is right now?

“Bush favors students giving up time after graduation in exchange for aid.” What exactly is it that Bush wants the students to do? I know what Kerry had in plan for students to do; Kerry wanted students to volunteer their time helping the government in their home towns.

“Iriana said the enhanced AmeriCorps system would give members of the national volunteer agency, AmeriCorps, education awards of $4,725 per year to help pay for college or graduate school. A student applying for a Federal Pell Grant would be eligible for an additional $1,000 in Pell Grant money if he or she completed the State Scholars program. The program sets standards above state requirements for graduation from high school. Bush adopted a 6 percent increase in federal financial aid in the 2005 federal budget. The total amount of aid available through Pell Grants per student has increased from $3,750 to $4,050 per year since 2001.”

I guess Bush might be trying, but has it really benefited those in the middle class? Or has it helped those in the upper class like it has done in the past?

Bush
Increased financial aid 55 percent since 2001 to a total of $73 billion.
Proposed to increase student loan limits. First-year limits would increase from $2,625 to $3,000.
Proposed in his 2005 budget to increase Pell Grant funding by $4.1 billion.

Kerry
Promises a $4,000 "College Opportunity Tax Credit" for those paying college tuition.
Hopes to simplify the student aid application process.
Is proposing a full college scholarship for those who complete two years of national service.

Health Care Policy

My first blog on the presidential promises will be on the health care policy that Bush has proposed. I have got most of my information off of the Web MD website. Web MD had Bush’s national policy advisor, Megan Hauck, come and answer some questions on their site. The first couple of questions she answered had to deal with health insurance. People are very concerned about this policy because it is not clear.

Bush’s health care policy has a plan to import all the prescription drugs. The problem with that is they are stored and packaged improperly. By importing medication, this is supposed to bring the cost of prescriptions down. Won’t this be bad for the economy? There goes Bush again making our economy worse. If he is not careful, he is going to fall to the worst president in History right under President Hoover. Why doesn’t Bush just have all of the prescription drug companies get together and do Horizontal Integration. Horizontal Integration is when companies that are alike and producing the same product get together and decide on a price that they will all use. He won’t, but instead issues a Medicare discount card, which lowers the cost by 60%. Well who is making up for that 60% that has to be paid? I believe that this will come out of the pockets of the middle class yet again. Another tax raise for the middle class is coming for this one.

Member of Web MD: “Does George W Bush’s health care plan address the issues that face pregnant women without health insurance?”

Megan Hauck: “The President’s health care plan is addressed for all Americans without health insurance.”

Bush wants to give us options for choosing prescription drugs by “lowering” the cost. He is lowering the cost for people who don’t have the money to pay for the average health care plan. “The average cost of a family health insurance plan in the United States is almost $10,000.” Bush wants to cut that in half with the Medicare discount card in order to give people that extra $5,000 dollars to use for improving their lives. That other $5,000 is what people don’t here about. It would probably be added to your property tax somewhere without you knowing. That is how they get money for most things. I do not like President Bush’s Health Care Policy. There has to be a better way (horizontal integration) to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

Breaking Promises

The object of this blog is to track the presidential promises made by President Bush. Will he keep or break the promises made? We shall find out. I will go through websites and newspapers and read what people have to say about the promises. What they think that Bush is doing. And whether or not they feel he is keeping his promise. I want you to feel free to comment and give me your opinion on the promises or if you have a question about one of the promises. I want my audience to be people who need to be more informed, people who want to learn more about the president and why we should have elected Kerry instead. Enjoy reading my site.