Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 2, 1993 TAG: 9303020216
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PISCATAWAY, N.J. LENGTH: Medium
SCHOOL-AID PLAN UNVEILED
President Clinton pledged Monday to revolutionize college aid by allowing students to repay loans through community work. He cast his national-service plan as a 1990s GI Bill to "change America forever and for the better."Starting with 1,000 slots this summer and growing to 100,000 or more within four years, the program will make college affordable to all while setting off a wave of involvement in education, health, safety and environmental projects, Clinton predicted.
"All across America we have problems that demand our common attention," Clinton said. "National service is nothing less than the American way to change America."
The program was a centerpiece of Clinton's campaign. He chose the 32nd anniversary of former President Kennedy's creation of the Peace Corps to formally propose it as president. It requires congressional approval.
Clinton's plan is designed to reshape federal student-aid programs and offer young Americans opportunities - and incentive - to perform such community service as working in inner-city health and drug clinics, tutoring in literacy programs and walking streets in neighborhood police corps.
He compared it to the GI Bill's offer of education to veterans returning from World War II.
"One of the things that we have to realize in this country is that an economic investment is not just building an airport or a road or investing in new technologies," Clinton said. "It's also investing in people."
After a pilot project of 1,000 or so students this summer, paid for with $15 million in his economic-stimulus package, Clinton proposes spending $7.4 billion in the next four years, building from 25,000 service slots in 1994 to more than 100,000 in 1997. Funding would increase in following years based on demand and the program's performance.
One year of service would qualify students for two years of college loans. Students could borrow first and serve after graduating, or serve after high school and accrue credits for loans.
Students who chose not to enter public service could pay back loans based on a percentage of their income - not the amount borrowed - which Clinton said would encourage graduates to enter lower-paying but critical professions such as teaching and working in community health clinics.
Clinton unveiled the program at Rutgers University after visiting an adult-learning center staffed by Rutgers volunteers and members of a local youth corps. He said critics did not believe young Americans would embrace community service.
"They believe this call to service will go unanswered, but I believe they are dead wrong," Clinton said to thunderous applause from students at the Rutgers athletic center.