Copyright© 2007 by School Services of California, Inc.

                                      Volume 20                   For Publication Date: June 22, 2007             No. 14

New America Foundation in California Calls for “Zero”
College Tuition, College Access Contract 

California’s branch of the nationally renowned New America Foundation is proposing to eliminate federal college loan debt for low-income students who meet specified requirements. This proposal, the “College Access Contract,” would allow low-income students to graduate with zero federal student loan debt and middle-class students to graduate with interest-free federal student loan debt if they: (1) work hard in high school to prepare for college, as evidenced by completing a college prep track or scoring college-ready on a placement exam; (2) work or engage in community service while in college an average ten hours a week; and (3) evidence a minimum level of competency in an academic area upon completing college. The Foundation seeks to fund the program by reducing excess college loan lender subsidies and embracing market mechanisms in the delivery of federal student loans. 

Labeling themselves as one of the first nonprofit/post-partisan public policy institutes, the New America Foundation has authored similar legislation regarding education. Collaborating with California State Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), the Foundation sponsored and the Senator introduced a bill to create a government-sponsored savings account for every baby born. 

—Angelo Williams