Written by Jaileah Gibson

This fall the Philadelphia student union has been working hard around our statewide funding campaign. So we have had multiple meetings with high school students from Reading, Pennsylvania.

So on November 1, 2011 a few students from the Philadelphia student Union took a trip down to Reading High School. Most schools in Philadelphia face the same issues that the students in Reading high school face. Like violence or having unqualified teachers. But the most common issue that students face is having our schools be underfunded.

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On October 26th President Obama unveiled his answer to the growing student loan debt crisis.

Obama’s plan will expedite a law passed by Congress last year that lowers the maximum required payment on student loans from 15 percent of discretionary income annually to 10 percent for eligible borrowers. Discretionary income is the amount of an individual’s income that is left for spending, investing or saving after taxes and personal necessities have been paid. It goes into effect next year, instead of 2014. Also, the remaining debt would be forgiven after 20 years, instead of 25.

Obama will also allow borrowers who have a loan from the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and a direct loan from the government to consolidate them at an interest rate of up to a half percentage point less.

In other words the plan will cut the payment costs by five percent for eligible students and any remaining debt will be wiped clean after 20 years instead of 25. In addition to that students with FFELP and a direct loan can combine them at a lower interest rate.

While I applaud President Obama for making huge efforts to lessen the burden on students I need him to clarify a few things. As far reaching as this plan is it falls short for many folks bogged down by student loans.

It completely marginalizes borrowers with private loans and the folks that in my opinion need the most relief, the people who are in default. Obama’s plan is geared mostly towards students that take out a loan in 2012 or later and who also took out a loan sometime between 2008 and 2012, according to the Education Department.

Students that don’t fit into that timeline are stuck in their current loan payment situations. In addition, for a student to get  the consolidated loan, they must have both a direct loan from the government and a loan from the Federal Family Education Loan Program.

What options are there for the students left behind in this plan? If I’ve been in student loan debt prior to 2008 who do I turn to? And how significant will the relief to the discretionary income be for students? Percentages are okay but they can often be misleading. Depending on a students level of debt, is a five percent decrease really going to keep more money in a student's pocket or are we just holding on to a few more pennies each month? I’m not saying his plan is terrible I’m simply stating that its scope is completely excluding many folks that need relief the most.

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Bucks County’s Pennsbury School District is allowing marketers to place advertisements inside their schools for profit. Subjecting students to advertising inside of schools in order to make money is ethically wrong.

Schools are supposed to act as the conduit between students and their success. However, in hopes to alleviate their budget crunch, the Pennsbury School District is allowing itself to act as the conduit between companies and students who could become customers of the companies behind the advertising.

Once again, major cuts to public education leave districts to fend for themselves and districts are now wading into the waters of business to stay afloat.

“It’s imperative we find alternate means to preserve our programs,” Assistant Superintendent W. David Bowman told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Why is it that school districts are forced to make up for such deep budget cuts?  
On the surface it seems like an innocent trade-off. Schools give companies access to their students in exchange for much needed funding (a possible annual income of $425,000 according to a recent article from AllGov.com).  There are clearly outlined advertising guidelines: the advertisements must relate to health, education, nutrition, or school safety. Some would ask, where’s the harm?

But regardless of Pennsbury’s guidelines that prohibit direct product advertising, the presence of a brand name or it’s image is inappropriate inside of schools. Once you become associated to a brand or its name you are more likely to purchase their products. It’s bad enough students are subject to enough product bombardment in most facets of life, could we at least keep schools an ad free environment?

Another striking question is how far is $425,000 going to stretch when the budget keeps getting cut? If budget cuts become worse, districts will once again have to dig themselves out of the hole.

As districts get more desperate, will schools lift the advertisement firewall that mandates the ads must be related to health, education, nutrition, or school safety? That’s the million dollar question; would districts allow more direct product advertising in the event they needed more funding and could get it from marketers? Is this the beginning of a slippery slope towards treating students as consumers?

While I firmly don’t agree with allowing advertisers into schools, I can certainly understand why districts are making this choice. Districts like Bucks County’s Pennsbury School District are just trying to get what they need for students to achieve.

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Kim Reed joined hundreds of youth from across the country in Washington DC, to report on the historic launch of a new Congressional Youth Caucus. For the first time, the U.S. Congress will have a Caucus where legislators will be talking and thinking about youth issues. This victory was won through the work of the Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ) and the Leaders Investing For Equality (LIFE) Campaign. Kim Reed produced this report for On Blast.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN! :)