Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Why Go?

So I'm at my desk chowing down on some leftover spaghetti for a quick lunch. I'm planning on seeing what Jim Nussle has to say at his 1pm newser about how he will hold down tuition costs. Maybe I don't need to go now. Even though it's an hour before the event, his campaign has already sent out the press release about what happened at the event that hasn't happened.

Wanna read it?

Nussle Only Candidate with Plan to Hold-Down Tuition Costs
Nussle Plan Would Save Iowa Families Thousands on Higher Education Costs
DES MOINES, IA – Speaking before several hundred college students, state educators and economic development officials at the Higher Education Initiative in Des Moines, Iowa gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle discussed his plan to hold down skyrocketing tuition costs and make access to college more affordable for all Iowans. Nussle stated he’s the only candidate running for Governor who has put forward a plan that actually curbs tuition spikes through his "Iowa College Cost Guarantee."
Jim Nussle declared, "I’m the only candidate running for Governor who has a viable plan to hold down tuition costs AND make college more affordable."
Nussle focused on how to hold down in-state tuition costs and open the doors so more Iowans can attend the state’s institutions of higher learning, including community colleges, Regent universities and independent schools. Nussle says the next Governor must work with the State Legislature to provide more reliable and more predictable advance-year funding so the state’s colleges and universities can plan better and not automatically resort to huge price spikes in tuition rates.
Along with advance-year funding, Nussle called for the creation of the "Iowa College Cost Guarantee," which provides parents and students more certainty to college planning by guaranteeing in-state, undergraduate tuition rates will not increase by more than the annual Higher Education Price Index (HEPI). From the 2001-2002 Academic Year to 2005-2006, in-state, undergraduate tuition rates set by the Iowa Board of Regents soared by 56.9%, while the widely respected benchmark of true college costs, HEPI, rose by just 20%.
"The Iowa College Cost Guarantee strikes the right balance between meeting the needs of Iowa’s students and families planning for college and Iowa’s institutions of higher learning educating our next generation of entrepreneurs and community leaders. While my opponent may talk about new programs to pay for college, his plan is absent of any substantive discussion about actually holding down tuition costs," Nussle continued.
Nussle’s plan would save students thousands on their in-state, undergraduate tuition costs over their college career. Instead of an Iowa family paying $4,890 for a fifth year of in-state, undergraduate tuition in 2005-2006, that Iowa family only would have paid $3,739 if the Iowa College Cost Guarantee would have been in place in 2001 – a savings of $1,151 in that fifth year alone.
"The University of Iowa, Iowa State, UNI and our community colleges should be afforded the same opportunities to plan better and execute better with the dollars promised by the State as our elementary and secondary schools already have. Our higher education institutions are critical to Iowa’s economic development and growth which is why they must be afforded the same priority," Nussle concluded.
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Paid for By Iowans for Nussle

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a journalism student and I'm not so sure my professor or future boss would say that follows journalism ethics... I could be a bit cynical here, but perhaps those doing the PR here came from out of business school and not the J-school.

Dave Price said...

It makes you wonder about press releases sometimes, doesn't it?