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Justice Center applauds Gov. Perdue’s veto of anti-community college bill

Post on April 13, 2011 by 15 Comments »

This evening about 6 p.m., Gov. Beverly Perdue vetoed a bill that would have prevented workers and students from funding their community college education. By preserving access to federal loans, this veto will preserve access to education and build a path to a brighter economic future for North Carolina.

The Justice Center has issued a statement in support of the Governor’s veto. It’s located here.

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Comments (Closed):14

  1. frances
    April 13, 2011 at 8:38 pm

    The only thing Perdue is trying to do is prevent either Shuler, Dalton or Blue from running against her in a primary. She has no hope of winning in a primary or in a general election. Again, this is a case of the students being used for personal gain by Perdue. This is about her political career. She cares nothing about students or how difficult the situation may be for them and their families. This is why Perdue vetoed the bill.

  2. Jeff Shaw
    April 13, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    I’m sure you have remarkable insights into the governor’s deepest personal motivations and all, but really, intent isn’t the story here.

    This veto will dramatically improve people’s chances at education, at job training, and at contributing to North Carolina’s economy. That’s true regardless of what you think of the personalities involved. Defending student loans for working families is good policy.

  3. frances
    April 13, 2011 at 8:57 pm

    You are incorrect. Go talk with the students on a community college campus.You are not their master. Perdue is monger playing with the life of students to promote her failing campaign. You should care more about the plight of students not a failure of a governor. You are so far off from understanding of the poor and the struggles faced by community college students. It appears you are only interested in Perdue. We do not need the help of people like you.

  4. Jeff Shaw
    April 13, 2011 at 9:10 pm

    This is good policy regardless of who the governor is. We’d support the policy if you were the governor, too.

    I’m willing to bet that I’ve spent more time talking to community college students this year, in more parts of this state, than you have.

    Based on that, I’m also willing to bet that if you took a poll of every college student in North Carolina and asked “would you like to have the option to have access to low-interest federal loans?” more than 90 percent would say “yes.”

    This offers students the choice to accept federal loans. It just gives people the option to have a low-cost way to fund their education. What’s wrong with that?

    You want to stop community college students from having a choice because of some bizarre personal beef you have with a politician? I find that odd. Why shouldn’t community college students have access to federal loans if they want to make that choice?

  5. frances
    April 13, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    Again, you are incorrect. I know more about the life of community college that you will ever know.Time on campus counts for lots. This is about Perdue. Perdue is the mightest disaster which has ever befallen the office of governor for the State of NC. Perdue is an expert trained on how to use the poor to further her cause. Her message is I will use whatever is at my disposal to win. I will use community college students, children, the elderly or any challenge just to get ahead.

  6. Rob Schofield
    April 13, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    It should also be noted that the plan to guarantee community college students with access to low interest federal loans (rather than forcing them to rely on high interest credit cards) was strongly supported in 2010 by mutiple Republican lawmakers.

    Now, just a few months later, they do an about-face at the directive of party leaders. It’s almost as absurd as “Frances” thinking the Justice Center (a group that has frequently critcized the Guv over the years) would be doing her political bidding.

  7. Jeff Shaw
    April 13, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    Why shouldn’t community college students have access to federal loans?

    Like I said, I’m 100% sure I’ve spent more time talking to community college students — both in the past year and in my life total — than you have. We can compare notes if you like.

    But the issue here is access to low-cost federal loans. You do not believe community college students should access to them. What possible reason can you have for believing this?

  8. frances
    April 13, 2011 at 9:44 pm

    I live in one of those low income areas that I am sure you would not visit. You only write about us when it serves your purpose. Be careful what you ask for.

  9. Jeff Shaw
    April 13, 2011 at 10:15 pm

    On a policy level, I’ve learned this: even people with an irrational hatred for Gov. Perdue can’t think of a single reason this veto is bad policy. Community college students should have access to federal loans. It’s just better for everybody.

    The final thing I’ll say: Anyone who knows anything about the Justice Center knows that we work in low-income areas daily. Anti-poverty work is what we do, and we write about these issues every day. Period. That’s true of the organization and of me personally. Feel free to email me at jeff@ncjustice.org if you’d like more details.

  10. frances
    April 13, 2011 at 10:23 pm

    I live the realityof poverty not just the pen of povety. There is a difference.

  11. Jeff Shaw
    April 13, 2011 at 10:29 pm

    So explain to me why you oppose giving community college students access to federal loans. Explain to me why that would be bad for low-income people.

  12. Alex
    April 14, 2011 at 9:14 am

    go Frances ! You’ve got the boys in a tizzy !

  13. Michelle
    April 15, 2011 at 8:04 am

    I oppose giving community college students access to federal loans…and I am a community college student. We live in an area where there isn’t a lot of economic growth. Why would you dangle a carrot when you know that you aren’t going to be able to catch it?? Why offer loans when you know they aren’t going to be able to be repaid?? I can understand offering these loans at 4-yr institutions where the cost is much greater than what you find on our campus. I thought the goal of getting a college education was to be able to better ourselves, get better jobs to provide for our families, not to dig ourselves into debt that we may not be able to get out of for years to come….

  14. Jeff Shaw
    April 15, 2011 at 8:16 am

    It’s not like the choice is between federal loans and no debt.

    People without access to federal loans who want to, as you say, get better jobs to provide for their families, will either a) not go to school, meaning they *can’t* get those better jobs to provide for their families, or b) take out *private* loans, which have much higher interest rates and create a much worse debt burden.

    Since you’re concerned about people digging themselves into debt, though, check out some of our anti-predatory lending work. There’s a push now to allow predatory loan practices that North Carolina had previously outlawed, which is very dangerous for all consumers.