A Marshall Plan

March 16, 2007

Alex Usher, Vice-President, Educational Policy Institute

This week's EPI Live guest is Bill Tierney, Director of the USC Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis (CHEPA) which has recently floated the idea of a "Marshall Plan" for California Higher Education.

I admit I was skeptical about the idea of a "Marshall Plan" when I first heard it. I think I’ve heard too many inadequate or simply poorly designed policies passed off with grandiose titles meant to invoke the legacy of large post-war spending programs (seriously, how many times have you heard people propose something and describe it as a "New GI Bill"?)

But I was pleasantly surprised by CHEPA's proposals. They lack nothing in ambition, but - unlike a lot of the nonsense floating around public policy circles in Washington, Ottawa and various state and provincial capitals - they focus squarely on real problems and proposed focused solutions to fix them.

There's a guarantee in there for free tuition - but only for those from low-income families. Three of the eight points in the plan deal squarely with academic preparedness for college: an issue on which both Congressional Republicans (who supported repeated White House attempts to kill TRIO) and Democrats (who tend to act as though access is entirely a financial issue) have less than stellar records. Another deals with the sadly-neglected but very real gaps in advising and counseling at the secondary level – a problem which I see raised constantly in forums across both countries but which has failed to gain traction anywhere as a political issue.

Most importantly, the program doesn't throw money around where it's not needed. No tuition freezes, no universal grants, no loan subsidies. This is about providing targeted measures to help the least advantage, not spending public money to appease middle-class parents whose children are already in school. Middle-class parents might need help, but they aren't most in need of help….a distinction too often lost by politicians.

NOTE: Anyone needing proof that idiocy is not confined to Washington or that the left is as capable as the right of shoveling money into the pockets of the wealthy (for no good reason) need only take a short visit to the province of New Brunswick, where this week the Liberal government announced in its budget that it would be devoting $7 million to getting rid of parental contributions to provincial student loans. That's right, folks – a mere 30 years after the Carter Administration made one of it’s worst domestic policy mistakes, allegedly-lefty Canadians can repeat history as farce by handing money over, no questions asked, to people with no demonstrable financial need. Not enough to make you weep? Consider that this $7 million in New Brunswick could provide another $1,000 to every current grant recipient’s aid package.)

If I have one minor quibble with the recommendations, it’s the last one which suggests providing $20,000 in loan relief to graduates who perform unspecified 'public service' work. This kind of workforce-contingent student aid is becoming increasingly popular in North America, but on the whole these are misguided attempts to subsidize public service work. If pubic service jobs are not well-paying enough, should we not increase salaries in them across the board and not just for indebted students. Are public service jobs only for the poor and not the rich? Conversely, are indebted students only worthy of extra subsidy if their interests lean against working in private enterprise?

But as I say, this is a minor quibble. More people should read the Marshall Plan and pay attention not just to the "big ticket" stuff on tuition, but also on the very real and detailed solutions to non-financial barriers as well. It's a welcome addition to the current debate and Tierney and his colleagues deserve congratulations.

Before I go, a note to our Canadian readers - Monday is Budget Day in Ottawa, and while PSE isn't going to be the centre of attention, we do expect at least something small on student aid as well as significant news on federal-provincial transfers respecting (among other things) PSE. If you're an EPI subscriber, we'll be aiming to get you our analysis of the Budget before 9 AM on Tuesday. If you're not, then we hope to have a full document up on the web by late that day.

Enjoy the weekend

Alex