Yearning For Education?

John Burbank of Seattle based liberal policy analyst and executive director of the Economic

Opportunity Institute suggest that education be free...well close to!  Burbank's proposal for universities to no longer charge students upfront, but to instead have the students pay a only small part from the students near future income.  This idea is very similar to the United Kingdom's system, but you still have some cost.  Students at Portland University started a project in the fall of 2012, which they presented to law makers in Oregon, the lawmakers like the idea so much so that they have passed legislation to study the “The Pay Forward, Pay Back program”

“House Bill 2720 would create the Pay it Forward program, which would allow students to skip tuition if they sign a contract agreeing to later pay a small percentage of their income for a set number of years.”

Basically, two years after graduation or discontinuing the university, students would begin to repay the state, this would mean that the fees would not accrue any interest. Fees would be paid back as follows: 5% for universities and 3.5% regional colleges and 2% for vocational schools, throughout a 25 year period.  This would mean that either the state government or the federal government would pick up the rest of the tab!

I love this idea, as it would enable us to make sure all economic levels could go to school regardless of their finances and it would seem to me that it would also level the playing field for all (I wish they had done this when I was in school)….

Elizabeth Koukladas

Bearla International Studies.