COLLEGE FUNDING IDEA DESERVES A LOOK.(EDITORIAL)(PLAIN TALK)(Column) see here great lakes higher education

The Capital Times March 3, 2003 Byline: Dave Zweifel The disparity has become eye-popping.

Back in the 1970s, college graduates could expect to make about 25 percent more in their paychecks than those who settled for a high school diploma.

Today, the difference is closer to 100 percent. The average high school grad makes $19,000, according to some comparative studies, the college grad about $38,000 annually.

Further, the unemployment rate for those who stop after high school is roughly 16 percent these days, for college grads about 3 percent.

In other words, a college education — whether at a university or at one of the tech colleges — has become more financially important than ever.

Unfortunately, all too many young people who have the grades and the ambition to get post-secondary education can’t. The costs are beyond their and their families’ means. Now, state government is proposing to cut several more millions from the University of Wisconsin System, for example, which means that students will have to come up with even more money. Getting a college education is going to become tougher, especially for families of modest means, rather than easier, as it should.

That’s why I was intrigued with a proposal made on these pages recently by James Jung, the retired head of the Great Lakes Higher Education Corp. Jung’s plan would guarantee every Wisconsin boy and girl a post-secondary education — at one of the UW campuses or at the vo-tech colleges — at no cost until they graduate and get a job. It makes no difference who they are, what ethnic background, what economic class, they would all be on an equal footing. site great lakes higher education

Once in a job, they would pay a percentage based on their income back into a special state fund that would finance the young students who come after them. Those in high-paying jobs, like a doctor, would pay more. Those in lower paying jobs, a teacher, for example, would pay less.

A big hurdle for the plan, of course, would be a huge start-up cost until the money from the post-graduation tax started to come in. Jung, though, would finance that either through revenue bonds or with the state retirement fund (with a guaranteed return). And if the plan were implemented during this biennium, those start-up funds would replace perhaps $200 million in instructional costs now earmarked for the UW under the regular (general purpose) state budget.

That could further help solve the state’s troubling deficit.

* Sound too simple? Too good to be true? Might it create other problems?

Perhaps, but no one will know for sure if the state doesn’t at least take a look at the possibilities.

There’s no better time than now, as students are facing higher costs and the state needs to bolster its commitment to higher education, to take that look.

City leverages CDBG funds to improve neighborhoods.(Community Development Block Grant)(Grand Junction, Colorado)

Nation’s Cities Weekly April 4, 2005 | Davis, Lance Grand Junction, Colo. Mayor Bruce Hill likes to use his city as an example of what a small town can accomplish with Community Development Block Grant funds.

Between 1996 and 2004, the city used just over $3 million in Community Development Block Grant funds to leverage more than $24 million in private sector and other funding for programs vital to the city–affordable housing, health care, infrastructure, senior citizens programs and more.

In March, Hill, Grand Junction Councilman Harry Butler and City Manager Kelly Arnold attended the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C.

As part of the conference, they attended a City Lobby Day meeting with members of their Congressional delegation to discuss the importance of CDBG and how it benefits their city.

“I think they (Congress) are getting the message,” Hill said of the meeting he, Butler and Arnold attended with Colorado Rep. John Salazar (D) and Sen. Wayne Allard (R). “I did feel like Congress is working to help preserve CDBG, but the fight isn’t over yet. We have to continually be in front of them and give them good examples of how these funds are used by cities.” Like many city officials, Grand Junction’s leaders are wondering what will happen to the community development initiatives they have championed for years if Congress decides to follow President Bush’s budget proposal, which would combine CDBG with 17 other grant programs, slash its funding and move it to the Department of Commerce. go to site grand junction colorado

Since 1974, CDBG has been administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Local officials across the nation hail it as a model in reviving decaying urban centers, renovating suburban and rural housing and providing services for low and moderate income people that can’t be replicated solely at the local level.

During the Congressional City Conference, hundreds of local elected officials took NLC’s message, “No cuts and no move,” to their House and Senate members. The effort scored a victory in the Senate with the passage on March 17 of an amendment introduced by Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) to restore $1.9 billion to CDBG and keep it a separate program in HUD.

In Grand Junction, CDBG is helping alleviate a shortage of affordable housing, most notably with two projects currently under development–the Linden Pointe and Garden Village apartment complexes.

According to the 2002 Housing Needs Assessment, Grand Junction is short 1,080 rental housing units and 589 home ownership units. This year, the housing shortage is expected to increase another 1,009 units.

Linden Pointe will add 92 multi-family rental units by May 1. Linden Pointe is located near schools, retail stores, a city park and public transportation. Land in Linden Pointe has been set aside for the addition of a child-care facility.

The $11.4 million project is being built with $377,170 in CDBG funds and $1.4 million in public funding. The rest comes from the private sector.

Housing Resources of Western Colorado is helping preserve existing rental housing in Grand Junction with the acquisition and renovation of Garden Village Apartments. The target population for the apartments is families that qualify for Section 8 vouchers. go to website grand junction colorado

The total cost of the Garden Village project, including acquisition, was $5.3 million. A $200,000 CDBG grant and $1.3 million in public funds leveraged the remaining balance.

Other programs funded by Grand Junction’s CDBG allotment include:

* Meals on Wheels * Catholic outreach services * Infrastructure upgrades * Health clinics * School repairs and upgrades * Homeless shelters In total, since 1996 Grand Junction has used just more than $3.2 million in CDBG funding to leverage more than $24 million in funding from the private sector.

If Grand Junction lost its CDBG funding, Hill said the city would continue to try to provide similar services, but it would be difficult.

“The reality is that CDBG dollars are focused on these programs, and we make sure the money goes to them,” said Hill. “We could continue to provide some of these programs without CDBG, but not all of them. CDBG dollars are an enhancement to what we can do, and they allow us to leverage other dollars into programs that do good for our community, and we couldn’t do that without them.” Davis, Lance