Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who announced he is running for the Democratic nomination for president in May, unveiled his debt-free college plan Wednesday in New Hampshire. New Hampshire has the highest average student debt in America, at $33,000. The plan focuses on best practices for lowering tuition, encouraging disadvantaged and nontraditional students to attend college and more accountability for for-profit colleges.
“Today, I’m calling for a simple goal that makes good on our progressive principles that everyone has a fair shot at the American Dream. I propose that we set the goal of giving every American the opportunity to go college debt-free within five years,” O’Malley said in his announcement. “The student debt crisis is one I know from our own family. My wife and I took out big loans to support our daughters. For us, this is what the American dream is all about — working hard and making sacrifices so our kids can pursue bigger opportunities and do better than we did.”
O’Malley proposes letting students refinance their loans at lower rates, automatically enrolling students in income-based repayment plans, freezing tuition rates and working with states to ensure legislatures invest more in higher education (which have experienced deep cuts in recent years). O’Malley has some credibility in the area of lowering tuition costs. During his time as governor, O’Malley, tuition froze for four years. After the freeze, there was a 3 percent cap for state university tuition. Maryland’s tuition rate grew at a slower rate than any other states in 2012–2013 school year, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Statistics.
O’Malley would also tie tuition rates to median income by lowering the cost of tuition to, at maximum, 10 percent of the state median income at public four-year institutions, and a maximum of 5 percent of median income at two-year public colleges. The plan would focus on more than tuition by increasing Pell Grants and state grants, so they can cover non-tuition costs and expand the federal work study program, tripling the funding so that it can accommodate more students and support low-income and middle-income students.
Where O’Malley’s plan stands apart from other proposals is his focus on older students and parents attending college. The plan suggests federal and state government share the expenses of providing childcare on campus and increasing access for parents, reducing the amount of time it takes to graduate and encourage less traditional lecture-based, in-class learning, such as online education. The plan didn’t specifically address one of the hottest trends in higher education, massive open online courses or MOOCs.
In addition to considering parents and mid-career students, it factors in other students with unique needs, such as lower-income and first-generation college students by expanding access to college counseling. Only 11 percent of low-income and first-generation college students graduate in six years of enrolling in college.
According to a 2013 American Association of University Women report on community college daycare access, daycare is spotty, with 84 percent of California community colleges and all of Delaware, Nevada, and Rhode Island’s community colleges offering on campus daycare. But none of the community colleges in Alaska, Vermont, Guam, or Puerto Rico offer it and only 37 and 32 percent of those colleges offer daycare in Texas and North Carolina, respectively.
He also said he would expand on the Obama administration’s efforts to rein in for-profit colleges and hold them accountable by requiring they meet certain targets, such as completion of college.