The Online Reflector

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have spent their campaigns expressing their stances on issues concerning social services and economic reform. One of the focuses of this year’s election has been on higher education. Both President Obama and Gov. Romney have suggested different policies for higher education that vary from decreasing student loan interest rates to involving private sectors into higher education.

Romney has been scrutinized for not having strong plans for higher education by the Obama campaign. Adjunct history and political science professor Matt Hammond believes these are justified criticisms.

“The criticisms [against Romney] are warranted. They’re fair and no reasonable person could go out there on the internet, tune into a speech or debate and understand with any specificity what Mitt Romney is proposing for higher education,” Hammond said.

Hammond said that the choice to ignore the topic may be a deliberate strategy set up by the campaign because voters may not like what they hear.

“Obviously, in campaigns [of] this size and of this magnitude, nothing happens on accident. So that’s [leaving out information] a decision that’s been made intentionally. And there are probably a number of politically smart reasons why that’s the case,” Hammond said.

According to Romney’s official campaign website, he proposes strengthening and simplifying the financial aid system and welcoming private sector participation. Hammond believes that Romney makes a fair judgment when he says that systems such as financial aid need to be simplified and made more accessible for students.

“I do think that Gov. Romney’s campaign has some valid points as far as filling out forms and paper work [and] the necessary applications and registrations that everyone goes through, whether they’re a student or staff [member] at a university,” Hammond said. “It [the paperwork] is too complicated, too burdensome. And [it’s] too easy to just say, ‘I’m not doing this.’ Things need to be made clear. And I think that’s one point that Gov. Romney’s campaign has fairly made.”

The Obama campaign has taken a different approach to solving the issues of higher education. During his term as president, Obama proposed legislation to decrease or even eliminate interest rates on student loans. Associate Professor of Teaching Education Greta Pennell believes these changes could be greatly beneficial for students.

“I don’t see why the student loan interest rate has to be that high. It really does saddle students with a tremendous burden when they first come out [of college] because it’s a huge interest rate,” Pennell said. “[For] anybody who’s going into the social services sector, where pay may be less, it’ll be harder for them to make ends meet.”

Some of Obama’s other proposals, both in his time in office and during the election, include increasing funding for Pell Grants. Pennell believes that this increase will give students a better chance to pursue higher education.

“I think the Pell Grant is an excellent one. I think it needs to be funded better and more thoroughly,” Pennell said. “I think that would allow for students to not have to be spreading themselves so thin.”

Romney also has suggested giving some of the higher education issues to states, thereby decreasing the federal government’s role in student loans such as Pell Grants. By decreasing spending and focusing on reforms, Romney hopes to decrease the financial burden loans have on the national deficit. Pennell said that this would hurt higher education.

“I’m just not convinced of how much debt the government is taking on by providing funding through the GI Bill and Pell Grants. The stuff we do for people out of the federal government is such a tiny percent of the overall budget,” Pennell said. “If we would just reduce the defense budget by five percent, we could pay for tons of stuff. So I think it’s a red herring kind of argument. They’re just trying to distract us. We’ve got this massive deficit, but what we do for people out of the federal budget is a drop in the bucket.”

Hammond said that higher education institutions are not meant to be run like businesses, and private sector involvement would be harmful to them.

“Those that share his [Romney’s] philosophy would say that the private sector is the answer. They’re going to make the product better, more efficient, less regulated, more effective and cheaper. And I would say that that is a backwards way of looking at how to handle our education system, whether it’s primary, secondary or post-secondary,” Hammond said.

Criticisms the Obama campaign has received from the Romney campaign include that Obama has given up on reform and is trying to solve problems such with money instead of reform. Pennell believes that Obama is attempting to make changes but is being met with blocks in Congress.

“I don’t think that President Obama has given up on reform. I think he’s got a lot of other areas where he sees reform could happen,” Pennell said. “At the same time, a president can put out [a] vision, but they can’t enact legislation. That’s why we have separation of powers.”

Other topics the candidates discussed include voucher systems and funding for community colleges. More information on Obama’s and Romney’s policies can be found on their official campaign websites, www.barackobama.com and www.mittromney.com.