How DARE you read the full plan and therefore trump my wile assumptions. ;0) ;0) ;0)

OK, fair is fair, I guess I’d have to give Pawlenty a BIT of credit for that clarification. That, indeed, would help things along.

Personally, I think there are much bigger problems with MN’s education system that should be resolved first. Seems to me that money spent on education in the early years pays off far better than spending it at the end of their k-12 career. With MN having one of the lowest black graduation rates and the metro area having schools highly segregated, I think there are other priorities.

And, J, plenty of good points there in your post. I have to agree with them all.

If the answer’s nothing – any price is too high.

I think a program like this aims to allow people who are in all ways except financial, ready to be college material. It’s also aimed at increasing the number of people with math and science educations to build a stronger technical workforce. It’s mostly that latter item that is likely driving such a proposal. As such, it’s *not* aiming to provide a base level of education for everyone (which I’d support), but to just increase the number of college graduates and math/science graduates to increase business activities in the tech/bioscience, etc. fields.

That said, I also think that a lot of people misunderstand the cost of “college” as an abstract concept. In many cases, the college of choice may be an expensive proposition, but a 4 year degree from St. Cloud State or another memver of MNSCU (or whatever it’s called now) for tuition and books runs $25,000 or the price of a nicely equipped Honda Accord.

This program is a fantastic thing for people for whom $25,000 might as well be %1,000,000, but I’ve had one too many conversations with people who have a $400/month car payment and “can’t afford” college. I say that mostly because those situations are what frames the public discourse about paying for college.

Too often, discussion of $50,000-$100,000 educations seem to be the default in those conversations and they shouldn’t be, any more than private elementary and high schools when talking about earlier education options.

And, for the record, I have attended at least one year at each:

* A state-run community college
* A prestigious private University
* St. Cloud State University

Anyone that thinks they won’t get a “good” education at the $6000/yr tuition school needs to get rid of whatever brainwashing put that idea there.

You’re exactly right. A more interesting plan would be free tuition for the bottom 25% and increasing the costs of tuition for everyone else.

An even better plan would be free tuition for _everyone_ in the state.

Whether intentional or not, the top performers in school tend to be those students who live in the best school districts with a steady family life and who aren’t worried about where they’re going to live next week or what they’re going to find for dinner.

With the metro schools also being highly segregated, I have a feeling that this ‘top 25%’ plan will mean any kid growing up in Highland park get’s a free ride while the kids that really need the help will, once again, be ‘left behind’ (pun intended).

If you want to improve things, give it to the poorest 25% or the least performing schools. Give those kids an incentive/reward to get out of their situation.

Not that I wouldn’t like to see the Governor’s plan work out.