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McCain Speechless on Higher Ed

By Loryn Wilson - Sep 24th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Colorado Daily reports that McCain has no comment about higher education policy when he was asked about it Monday:

Monday morning, the Obama campaign attempted to address some of those issues, as Michelle Obama hosted a conference call with college newspapers across the country to address her husband’s stance on higher-ed and other young-voter issues.

Among the issues she said her husband would address as president: restructuring the current student-loan system to curb the $20,000 in loan debt that saddles the average graduating college student; offering a $4,000 tax credit toward college tuition in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year; and regulating Pell Grants to adjust with inflation.

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Contacted Monday, McCain campaign officials declined to discuss their candidate’s stance on higher-ed issues.

I’m not sure where I stand on this. There are two sides to this coin–one side is that our candidates have every right not to talk about an issue if they don’t want to or don’t find it important. But at the same time, isn’t it the responsibility of our candidates to address issues that voters of any age care about?

Whether it was Obama or McCain, it seems like it would send young voters the wrong message. College students are already more likely to vote than young voters who aren’t in college, but I think they want a candidate who will talk about the issues affecting the cost of education. I’m wondering what McCain has in store for this particular issue if he becomes president if he has declined to talk about it to the press.

Tags: 2008 presidential election, college affordability, higher ed, John McCain, politics