College Student Loans are another example of how American politicians choose one extreme side of a position, and then refuse to try to make any effort to understand the other side’s point of view.

Most Democrat politicians want to be able to pay off all, or as much as they can, of the college loans that students borrowed when they were in college.

This is a perfectly reasonable viewpoint to have because it is true that Our Former College Students are currently being weighed down financially by student loans for college tuition that has been far more expensive during the past two or three decades than tuition should have been.

In contrast, Republican politicians look at the issue from the point of view of people who do not owe student loans, either because people did not to go to college, or because they have already paid off their college costs and student loans.

This is also a perfectly reasonable way to look at the situation because it would not be fair for people who did not go to college and instead started working in a job, or for people who went to college and have already paid-off all their college bills and college loans, to have to then pay for the tuition costs of other people who went to college and personally benefited from attending.

Republicans are also concerned that paying off the loans would reward the colleges and universities that overcharged on tuition, which would only result in the colleges and universities raising their tuition costs even more.

A Great Leader would listen to both sides of this argument, realize that both sides have fair and reasonable points of view, and come up with a Solution that is a Winning Solution for Everyone.

The Solution is not to use tax money from some of Our American People to pay off student loans that are owed by a different group of Our American People, but instead to require that colleges and universities pay off some or all of these student loans themselves.

The facts are that many colleges have taken advantage of students and families by increasing their tuition costs far more than the pace of inflation for the past 40 years.

For example, a couple of years ago I came across a financial slip from back in the 1980’s showing that the football department at Furman University, because of my football scholarship there, had paid my tuition for that school year while I was playing football, baseball, and running track at Furman.

I was amazed to see that the tuition cost was only slightly more than $2,500 per semester.

This low cost of tuition amazed me because I have now gotten so used to seeing the very high college tuition costs we currently have, that I had forgotten how much less expensive college costs were 30 and 40 years ago.

The nonprofit College Board has found that in the 50 years from 1971 to 2021, the average cost of going to a private college or university, including tuition, fees, books, room and board, has increased from $2,930 per year in 1971 to $51,690 per year in 2021.

They found this tuition increase was 4.6 times the rate of inflation during those 50 years.

Therefore, most colleges and universities have been overcharging students and families for many decades, and so it would only be fair for colleges and universities who have increased their costs far more than inflation, to pay off a large amount of these student loans that their former students have.

In summary, it is true that former students who owe large student loans have often been taken advantage of by the unfair tuition increases that colleges and universities have charged them.  

But it is also true that people who did not go to college, or who have already paid all their college costs or paid back their own student loans, should not be required to pay the student loan costs for other students who chose to attend college.  

Therefore, the correct solution is for the colleges and universities to pay off a large portion or all of the student loans for students that attended their school because these colleges and universities increased their tuition costs far more than they should have.

At the same time, we should also be requiring that these colleges and universities reduce their current tuition costs to make their costs fair for current and future students.

Taking some tax money to pay off a current group of college loans does not actually solve the big picture, and so it is not an efficient solution for all our past students, current students, and future students.

However, by our government stepping in to control college tuition costs and student loans, then this will be a Winning Solution For All Our Students from the Past, in the Present, and in the Future.

It will be a Win for former students who still have student loans they owe, a Win for people who did not attend college because they are not going to be required to pay for other people’s college costs, a Win for current and future college students who will have lower college costs when they are attending college now and in the future, and a Win for current and future people who are not going to choose to attend college because they will not be asked to pay for other people’s student loans now or in the future.

Our Solution is also fair for colleges and universities because they receive tax benefits that do not require them to pay taxes, they receive very large amounts of government funding paid to them from the American taxpayer, and they receive many additional benefits, all of which in combination have allowed many colleges and universities to build up huge financial endowments, including schools like Yale, who has a $41 billion endowment, and Harvard, who has a $50 billion endowment.

Many critics of universities now refer to big universities as corporations that just happen to be in the business of education, instead of as the educational and academic institutions that they were designed to be and are supposed to be.

Colleges and universities were also given $203 billion in government funding this year, and they do not have to pay any taxes on the profits that their endowments earn on investments.   

Therefore, requiring colleges and universities to pay off a portion or all of the student loans that the colleges and universities received tuition payments for from students and from government federal financial aid programs, is much fairer than making taxpayers pay or the students themselves pay.

Our Movement Plan is Fair for Everyone because Our Plan Benefits All Former, Current, and Future Students by reducing tuition costs in the past and in the future, it saves taxpayer money from being used to pay off student loans, and it requires colleges and universities who overcharged for their tuition to pay off a large amount of these student loans that students should not have had to take out to begin with if colleges and universities had not been overcharging their students.

Moving forward, our federal government needs to reduce the amount of financial aid that we provide to colleges and universities because it is the government financial aid programs that have allowed the colleges and universities to raise their tuition rates at 4.6 times the rate of inflation during the past 50 years.

Because the colleges and universities knew that the government would pay this financial aid, then they chose to continue to raise their tuition even more.

This is another example of our government not monitoring our government spending because colleges and universities have been taking huge advantage of what they see as free money from our government.

To put a stop to this, just like we will have our Congresspeople monitor, manage, and oversee all of our government spending that is occurring in their districts and states, we will also have our Congresspeople monitor, manage, and oversee all the government spending that we are giving to colleges and universities in their districts and states.

This monitoring, managing, and overseeing of colleges and universities will allow us to have a much better grasp of what our colleges and universities are doing and how much Educational Excellence they are providing to Our Young People.

Our Congresspeople will also benefit greatly from the Excellent Relationships they will build and develop with the colleges and universities in their districts and states.

Most importantly, our federal funding of colleges and universities will no longer be based on the number of students who are attending the colleges and universities like it is now.  

Instead, we will change this to where our federal funding of colleges and universities is based upon the number of students who obtained jobs in the career field of their college major within three years of graduation.

I have been a college professor, the head of two departments in the School of Business and Management, a college administrator, a college football coach, the Faculty Athletic Representative for every athlete in the college, and a cabinet member in the President’s cabinet.

Therefore, I have a full understanding of all aspects of a college education and athletic career.  

As a result, during my college professor career I made a tremendous effort to prepare My Students for Success in Life and for Success in Their Chosen Career Field.  

In this effort, not only did I teach my students the course material, but I also worked to develop their personal skills and characteristics like work ethic, public speaking, Belief in themselves, and emotional intelligence.

In addition, I made many phone calls and sent many emails and letters to help to get my students jobs in their career fields after graduation.

As a result of this effort, and because of the Excellence of My Students, a very unusually High Percentage of My Students have gone on to obtain Outstanding Jobs and build Tremendous Careers in their chosen college major and career fields.

Therefore, I know from personal experience that this level of Student Excellence and Career Success can be Achieved.  

However, this level of postgraduate success does not usually happen for students because most colleges and universities are only primarily concerned about getting their students to the point of graduation, and then they send their students out into the world on their own to try to find their own jobs.

Most colleges and universities make little to no effort to get jobs for their students because they do not care very much about what jobs the students get after graduation since colleges and universities do not get paid after students graduate.

Some colleges and universities may make a certain amount of effort with guidance counselors and a lot of banners and signs around campus, but the number of students per hired guidance counselor is so large that it is nearly impossible for the students to get enough personal attention.

Which is why we see so many college graduates now who are working in jobs they could have gotten without a college degree.

As a result, all the four or five years of work and time that the students put in to get their diplomas are very often wasted, and all the money that they and their parents spent for them to go to college is very often wasted.

The only people who benefit from a student spending four or five years to get a diploma, and then not getting a job in their career field, are the colleges and universities.

Everyone else loses, including the students and their parents.

The colleges and universities are making a large amount of money, while the students and parents have spent a large amount of money without gaining any measurable career benefits.

However, if our government begins paying colleges and universities based on the number of students who get jobs in their college major careers, then the colleges and universities will become motivated to get paid, and so they will find a way to raise their teaching standards to create more student excellence that will make their students very attractive to employers, find a way to stop wasting time in class and get back to teaching what colleges and universities are supposed to be teaching, find a way to hire more guidance counselors so their students can receive more career attention, and find a way to create new guidance programs that will make their guidance offices more efficient and effective in obtaining jobs for their students.     

I Have Always Thought that my job as a professor did not end when My Students graduated.  

I still think of My Former Students as being My Students now, and I take Great Pride in watching them be Very Successful after Graduation, while still trying to help them in any way possible.

I will Always think of these Amazing and Outstanding Young Men and Young Women as My Students throughout their Entire Lives and For Their Entire Working Careers.

Carrying forward with this thinking, I Believe that the Most Important Part of a college degree is My Student obtaining a Great Job after Graduation in his or her Chosen Career Field, and then My Student Knocking That Job Out Of The Park Because Of How Skilled, Ready, and Prepared They Are.

College Students have put in four years of hard work, and their parents have contributed greatly and sacrificed tremendously by paying for their children to attend college.

Therefore, I am always going to honor this tremendous student and parent commitment by me making sure that I finished the job and that My Students got started on their Successful Career Path.

Since I know from my personal experience that this is possible to Achieve, then I know that Our Plan will work.

As a result, Our White House Administration will base our federal funding of colleges and universities on the number of students who have obtained a job in their college major and career field within three years of graduation.

By us doing the funding in this way, then colleges and universities will be forced to focus on actually Educating and Preparing Their Students for a Lifetime of Success in Their Chosen Career Fields.

In addition, the colleges and universities will be forced to help their Students to obtain a job in their College Major and Chosen Career Field after Graduation.

Currently, our colleges and universities are not being held to a high enough Standard of Excellence.

Our colleges and universities are currently being paid for just keeping the students participating at their schools for four or five years, and then hopefully getting a graduation diploma that the students may or may not ever use.  

These college diplomas have become the college version of participation trophies that I have referred to in other chapters on this website and in our book.

Therefore, colleges and universities have a business profit system going where they do not care very much at all about whether their students ever get a job in their college major and chosen career field after Graduation.

However, when Our Administration starts paying these colleges and universities based upon how many students obtain a job in their major and career field within three years, then suddenly our colleges and universities are going to become financially motivated to do a far greater job for their students than they have been doing in recent decades.

These colleges and universities are going to start working hard to prepare their students for a Successful Life and Career after Graduation, and they are going to start working hard to help their students to obtain a good job in their college major and chosen career field because the colleges and universities want to get paid for their work.

In summary, the current government has been paying our colleges and universities based on a participation trophy mentality, where as long as their college students are on campus and participating every year, then our government will pay the colleges and universities for these students to participate.

However, Our Administration will instead pay these colleges and universities based on an Achieving Excellence Mentality, where the colleges and universities are required to Actually Produce Excellent and Outstanding Students who are Ready and Prepared to be Very Successful in Life and in Their Chosen Career Field.

Too much of our society has lowered its standards from what used to be the High Achieving Excellence Level to the low participation trophy level.  

That is a main reason why the United States has gone from having the Very Best Education System in the World to having an education system that is ranked 37th in the World.

How can that be?

We have the Most Outstanding Country in the History of the World, and we have the 37th ranked education system.

We are going to change that and get back to being the Best in the World by having our government only financially reward colleges and universities when they prepare Their Students for a Lifetime of Success in the Students’ Majors and Chosen Careers.

We are also going to work very hard to initiate New Programs with our technical schools and trade schools because these are outstanding educational institutions that are actively preparing Our Young People for Career Success and Financial Success in their Chosen Areas of Study.

The career skills that are taught in these schools often result in excellent and very well-paid job opportunities for Students, and so these technical schools and trade schools offer students and families an Excellent Financial Success Rate.

Our Administration will develop New Programs with these technical schools and trade schools that will Greatly Benefit Many Millions of Our Young People and Our Older Adults.

In summary, we are going to Bring Everyone Together, the White House, our Congresspeople, our Education Departments, our Elementary Schools, our Middle Schools and Junior Highs, our High Schools, our Colleges, Universities, Technical Schools, and Trade Schools, so that we are all working together in a Highly Efficient and Championship Way to provide the Greatest Education System in the World to Every American Child, to Every Young Person, and to Every Adult.

We are also going to Create, Build, and Develop an Outstanding and Extraordinary Career Pathway System between All Our Educational Institutions and the Beautiful Careers that Our Young People have Chosen and Worked so Hard to Accomplish and Achieve. 

We will Build the Greatest Education System in the History of the World, but we will not consider our job done until we have Helped Every One of Our Young People to Blossom and Flourish in the Career Field they have set their Great Minds and their Incredible Work Ethic on Achieving and Accomplishing.

And So That Is What We Will Do!

We are no longer in the participation trophy business.

We are back in the Achieving Academic Excellence Business, and this time we are adding to it an Extraordinary Career Pathway System to Partner with Our Academic Excellence that will result in Our Young People Achieving Their American Dream and Accomplishing a Lifetime of Happiness and Success. 

Our Children and Our Young People are Our Future, and so We Are Going to Build Them Into Tremendous and Successful Leaders For Our Country and For Our World.

LET US BUILD A WORLD OF ACADEMIC GREATNESS AND CAREER SUCCESS 

FOR ALL OUR CHILDREN AND FOR ALL OUR YOUNG PEOPLE 

It is letters like this that we want our college students to be able to write about their college experiences.

Nathan Watt, an exceptional award-winning soccer player and coach who came to Lees-McRae College from England, wrote the following about Smith that matches with Our Movement Plan:

    “Terry Smith quickly became not just a favorite teacher of mine, but a mentor and guide for my career aspirations.  

    As someone who struggles with confidence in sport and life in moments, Terry constantly instilled in me confidence, along with a newfound self-belief that I could achieve any of my life goals.  

    Throughout this mentorship period, I was constantly challenged to deliver high quality work and push myself to the very limit.  

    Ever since our paths crossed, Terry has been one of my biggest advocates in life and still to this day is constantly reminding me to seek the highest of goals.  

    Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have envisioned that even though I graduated from Terry’s class over seven years ago, that we would remain in contact to this day and is the only teacher to continue to go out of his way to do so.  

    This is simply testament to the character he showcased during his time as my teacher; he always went above and beyond and still delivers!

    Over the years I developed a wealth of knowledge from Terry, but most importantly about the need to remain humble, determined and hungry for success.

    As a full-time coach and youth director, I constantly utilize many of the life skills he helped instill in me, and for that I am forever grateful.”