McCaskey East student Taj Hammond, left, shakes hands with Gov. Ed Rendell during a March visit at Millersville University. Rendell was speaking about his tuition-relief proposal, which would legalize video poker. Taj and his mother, Camille, center, were at Millersville to learn more about Rendell's plan.
Students who are feeling college's pinch in their pocket may be in luck.
In April, Gov. Ed Rendell held a conference call for high school journalists across the state to ask questions concerning the future of public education. Eighty students from 31 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties took part in the conference.
The governor discussed his Tuition Relief Act, a proposal that potentially could provide 170,000 students across the state with a combined $540 million to go toward a college education at one of the state's 14 community colleges or one of the 14 universities in the PA State System of Higher Education. Students could be awarded as much as $7,500 per year. However, these students must come from families whose annual income is $100,000 or less.
After a college degree is obtained, relief recipients would not have to work solely in the state of Pennsylvania, thus expanding job opportunities.
Rendell explained that the funds for the proposed act would come from the proceeds of 20,000 to 30,000 video poker machines placed in statewide eateries and other businesses. Pennsylvania is not "expanding gaming," Rendell said, but instead "taking the proceeds to a good use."
The importance of affordable education was stressed by the governor. He told the story of a college senior who had accumulated $36,000 in student loans and planned to teach in a school district that would pay her $37,000 per year.
The outcome of Rendell's plan is twofold: He first does not want the cost of college to hinder any student from furthering his or her education, and he also wishes these students could enter the work force after college with little to no debt.
The current state of the nation's economy reflects the importance of having a college degree under one's belt. Rendell said the state unemployment rate reached 9 percent for employees who had only a high school degree, yet the rate was 4 percent for those with a college degree.
"College education is crucial to any individual's hope to have significant, productive life," Rendell said. "We need to increase the number of Pennsylvanians who go to college."
Rendell's Tuition Relief Act is part of his 2009-10 budget proposal. Though it excludes state-related University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple University and Lincoln University because the state does not have control over their tuition rates, the governor encouraged Pennsylvania residents to write to their state legislators about this issue.
Students who are attending or are going to attend a Pennsylvania college had varying views concerning Rendell's proposal. An incoming freshman at Lehigh University, 18-year-old Bill Napier thought colleges should take other routes to ensure the financial well-being of their students, such as making budget cuts and providing the excess money to students.
"College tuition has been increasing exponentially the past decade, but are the students receiving a better education?" he asked. "Because students' education is not being improved, the colleges should find ways to revert to their previous costs of tuition."
A rising sophomore at Pennsylvania's public West Chester University, 19-year-old Samantha Bare praised the benefits of the Tuition Relief Act but found fault in the fact that those attending state-affiliated and private colleges and universities would find no relief from the act.
"(They) would still face the struggle of affording higher education," she said.
Still, 18-year-old rising college freshman Joanna Gruber made a point concerning the schools exempt from Rendell's plan. If private schooling became exorbitantly expensive to the point where enough students could no longer afford tuition, these students could enroll at a public school funded by the Tuition Relief Act, Gruber said. This could potentially cause Pennsylvania colleges not under the state-funded umbrella to reconsider their tuition.
Clearly the cost of higher education plays a critical role in students' college decisions.
"(Cost) was one of the main deciding factors in my decision between the two final colleges I was deciding between," Gruber said. Ultimately, she chose to attend Elizabethtown College in the fall.
Worried about the massive burden of debt she would incur from college costs, Bare opted to enroll at a public university of Pennsylvania.
As he was making his final decision, Napier endured a mental tug-of-war between two colleges: Drexel University and Lehigh University. Even though Napier noted the affordability of Drexel, he "fell in love with Lehigh," he said. "This left me with a very hard choice."
In the end, Napier followed his heart and chose Lehigh. He hopes to acquire a well-paying job immediately after he graduates from college, but the cost of attending the school he selected looms over him.
Perhaps in the near future, students will witness college tuition turn toward affordability, thanks in part to Rendell's Tuition Relief Act or even the doings of private and state-assisted colleges. In the meantime, Napier, Bare, Gruber and other college students plan to work over the summer to make college a little more affordable.
E-mail: freestyle@lnpnews.com