Dear Obama, please don’t let us down…
Graduating college seniors are entering one of the worst job markets in recent history. Prospective college students cannot afford the rising cost of higher education tuition. Because of this, the state of the economy remains a point of concern among both young and old voting-aged citizens.
Based on both the online poll on the Lariat Web site and from informal inquires to staff and students, Obama was the choice for the new president of the United States for the majority of the Saddleback College community. In the poll asking, “How do you feel about Obama winning the election” Fifty-five percent of the latest respondents to answered that he will bring about needed change.
Americans, especially college students and many first-time voters in a presidential election, had an exceptional decision put into their hands, one that will decide both the short and long-term destiny of their futures.
After eight depressing years under the Bush administration, voters have expressed their determination for change, and in just a few short months will have removed the immobile and unproductive administration.
President-elect Barack Obama has definitive objectives to bravely lead this nation out of a turbulent and disparaging past toward a more promising, stable future.
Obama’s economic outlook is motivated and pragmatic, especially in regards to making college affordable for all Americans. According to barackobama.com, “College costs have grown nearly 40 percent in the past five years. The average graduate leaves college with over $19,000 in debt. In addition, between 2001 and 2010, two million academically qualified students will not go to college because they cannot afford it. Finally, our complicated maze of tax credits and applications leaves too many students unaware of financial aid available to them.”
Obama and Biden plan to create a new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth $4,000 in exchange for community service. It will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students.
Moreover, the new administration will create a national “Make College a Reality” initiative that will build on Obama’s bipartisan proposal in the U.S. Senate to provide grants for students seeking college level credit at community colleges if their school does not provide those resources.
Other formidable issues created by the Bush administration have young Americans up in arms. Our nation’s environmental issues are tied into the country’s dependence on foreign oil, which in turn ties us to the trillion-dollar deficit thanks in part the U.S.’s role in the War in Iraq.
Obama’s proposal to increase the proliferation of hybrid technologies will greatly slow down the exaggerated greenhouse effect and create jobs to stimulate the economy.
College students of today represent the future of America. So, for the sake of the future, in the with the new and innovated and out with the lackluster and unproductive.