Many hardworking college students are paying their way through college without parental support. They American Association of College Students is committed to helping students deals with the challenges of the high cost of college. Currently, we are working on three goals.
First, we would like to see the tuition for public colleges and universities decrease. This could be achieved by increasing funding for higher education in Michigan that would be earmarked for tuition reduction.
Second, we need to deal with the crushing student loan debt. One approach that would benefit the taxpayers of Michigan would be to pro-rate student loan debt for graduates that stay and work and pay taxes in Michigan once they graduate. One problem Michigan is experiencing is once students graduate from our premier universities, they move to other states and take that training and talent with them. Tax payers should expect a return on their investment in higher education. The American Association of College Students is proposing that student loan debt be pro-rated over a seven-year period after graduation. This would be based upon two conditions. Graduates would have to work for seven years in the state of Michigan, and they would have to maintain a GPA of 3.0. This would be linked to a particular college. For example, let's suppose a student attends a community college and then transfers to a 4 year public university. If their GPA at the community college was 2.5, but their GPA at the university was a 3.6, then the student loan debt for the classes at the university would be covered, but not for the community college. Any public institution of higher education from which the student has earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher would be covered by this plan.
Finally, many self-supporting college students are earning a Michigan minimum wage of $9.45 an hour. Although there are proposals to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour, until that happens we are proposing raising the minimum wage to $12.00 in Michigan. Although larger corporations would make less profit, small businesses might really be hurt by this increase. To alleviate the pain of small businesses (25 or less employees), we are proposing a $3.00 per hour tax credit for all small businesses to offset the amount that they are having to pay with the increased wages they are paying out to employees. Rather than being hurt, small businesses would be helped. Raising the minimum wage for low earning employees would help struggling college students and would stimulate the Michigan economy.