Sign Petition for College Debt Independence

[Joanne O'Neill]

[ Please Forward & Ask Your Friends to Sign ]

Petition for College Debt Independence

Add your signature to the petition for public higher education and
college debt independence!

Our goal is to deliver 50,000 signatures to President Obama and Governor Romney on July 4.

Spread the word!

Dear President Obama and Governor Romney,

The debate you are having over higher education should not be about the amount of debt that college students carry.  The debate should be about how we eliminate the shackles of student debt all together.  

In 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to Joseph Cabell:

The truth is that the want of common education with us is not from our poverty, but from the want of an orderly system. More money is now paid for the education of a part than would be paid for that of the whole if systematically arranged.

In 2012, Rocky Anderson said:

"Government has an enormous role in education--and it has not been doing a good job in recent times. Funding for education, from pre-school through higher education, is essential if we are to break the cycle of poverty for millions of people in the U.S. and prepare our students to compete with students throughout the world. Just as government moved our nation forward by committing to provide free secondary education, so too should we commit to providing a higher education for capable students." 

For democracy to flourish, educated citizens are required; government has an obligation to ensure its people are well-educated if we wish to prosper as people and a nation. Higher education is becoming so expensive that only the wealthy can afford it, unless students are willing to mortgage their futures.

In the current jobless state, graduates are unable to find employment in their fields. They are moving back in with their parents instead of renting or buying homes and filling them with goods. Many are unable to make payments on their college loans and are sinking further into debt as their credit ratings sink to new lows. American college students currently owe more than one trillion dollars on their loans--more than the total consumer credit card debt. This is untenable in a democratic republic.

As Anderson said, our public education system should include higher education, and to paraphrase Jefferson, we're already paying for it; we're just not getting it.

The public benefit from educated citizens is evident in all facets of our society, and both the public and our government have the obligation to ensure we continue to enjoy an educated citizenry. We the undersigned believe now is the time to bring higher education into the pubic education system just as we have done with primary and secondary schools.

Sign here: http://justiceparty.nationbuilder.com/petition_for_college_debt_independence?recruiter_id=376

Thank you for caring about the future education of our children!