by Mutha

Created on: January 28, 2009   Last Updated: January 31, 2009

The actions and clearly stated intentions of the Obama Administration, even in the early stages of Obama's presidency, prove a commitment to adult education and literacy. Obama intends to make a higher education accessible to every American with a $4000 refundable tax credit for tuition costs, increased assistance through Pell Grants, and a simplified application process. Community colleges will receive grants to identify skills and training that are needed in the workforce, implement degree programs to address these needs, and be rewarded for graduating more students.

The Obama administration has authored the American Opportunity Tax Credit of 2009. The intent of this tax credit is to fund 75% of the costs of an education in a university or to fund 100% of the costs of an education in a community college. This credit aims to give a tax credit worth 100% of the first $4000 dollars of college tuition.

Not only is the proposed American Opportunity Tax Credit refundable, but the credit would be available at the time of enrollment. This would eliminate the out of pocket costs of tuition for a student to pursue a degree in a community college and significantly decrease the financial burden inflicted by the soaring costs of a degree in a University.

Obama intends to simplify the application process for receiving financial aid from the federal government. The current application would dissolve. Instead, families would simply check a box on their income tax return. This would release their tax information for the purposes of determining eligibility for financial aid and the amount of financial aid available to students.

The Community College Partnership Program would make grants available to community colleges for the purpose of analyzing what skills and technical training are in demand in the workforce. After identifying the needs, degree programs would be developed to address these needs. Community colleges would also be offered incentives to graduate more students and transfer more students to four year institutions.

Obama understands that education is needed for America to be competitive on an international level and he understands the obstacles that hinder education. Our country has a wealth of resources and Obama understands what is needed to tap into these resources as no other president has done in the past. Under the Obama administration, education will no longer be a privilege enjoyed mostly by the wealthy. If we intend to use the best this country has to offer, we need to evolve our thinking and utilize education in ways that will best benefit our nation as a whole.

Hope and opportunity are words that ring loudly in the eloquent speeches of Barack Obama. Hope and opportunity are the two most important factors we need to address if we intend for our education system to move forward. We need to open the doors of our colleges to students of all walks of life. Education that is accessible by all, will benefit us all.

The Obama administration will give all Americans the opportunity to receive a college education. Race will not matter. Income will not matter. With equal opportunities for all, this will truly be the land of opportunity that our founding fathers intended.

References: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.106: , www.barackobama.com, www.whitehouse.gov/agenda

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