[Vision2020] Advice from Mitt

[Ron Force]

March 5, 2012, 4:04 pm
Romney in Ohio: Want College? Can’t Afford It? Too bad.
By DAVID FIRESTONE
March 05, 2012.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The high school senior who stood up at Mitt Romney’s town hall 
meeting here today was worried about how he and his family would pay for college, and wanted to hear what the candidate would do about rising 
college costs if elected. He didn’t realize that Mr. Romney was about to use him to demonstrate his fiscal conservatism to the crowd. 

The answer: nothing.
Mr. Romney was perfectly polite to the student. He didn’t talk about the 
dangers of liberal indoctrination on college campuses, as Rick Santorum 
might have. But his warning was clear: shop around and get a good price, because you’re on your own.

“It 
would be popular for me to stand up and say I’m going to give you 
government money to pay for your college, but I’m not going to promise 
that,” he said, to sustained applause from the crowd at a high-tech metals assembly factory here. “Don’t just go to one that has the highest price. Go to one that 
has a little lower price where you can get a good education. And 
hopefully you’ll find that. And don’t expect the government to forgive 
the debt that you take on.”
There wasn’t a word about the variety 
of government loan programs, which have made it possible for millions of students to get college degrees. There wasn’t a word urging colleges to hold down tuition increases, as President Obama has been doing, or a 
suggestion that the student consider a work-study program.
And 
there wasn’t a word about Pell Grants, in case the student’s family had a low enough income to qualify. That may be because Mr. Romney supports 
the House Republican budget, which would cut Pell Grants by 25 percent 
or more at a time when they are needed more than ever.
Instead, 
the advice was pretty brutal: if you can’t afford college, look around 
for a scholarship (good luck with that), try to graduate in less than 
four years, or join the military if you want a free education.
That’s the face of modern Republican austerity. Don’t talk about the value of 
higher education to the country’s economic future, and don’t bother to 
think about ways to make it more accessible to strapped families. Tell 
students not to take on more debt than they can afford, wish them well, 
and move on.
Of course, a few minutes later, in answer to another 
question, there was a classic Romney moment. He recalled that when he 
was governor of Massachusetts, he successfully pushed for a state 
program (known as the Adams scholarships) that gives four years’ tuition at state universities and colleges for 
students in the top 25 percent in test scores and grades.
So there is a role for government in helping some students go to college? 
Perhaps everyone but good students are on their own? So much of the 
time, what Mr. Romney seems to mean depends on who he is trying to 
impress at a given moment.
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