With the country’s economic status as it is, charitable donations from the private sector have fallen off; organizations across the country that rely on contributions have felt the drop. So the burden has fallen on the state and federal governments to take up the slack and support these critical programs. Our government has been granting educational financial aid for years, and it has always been an important part of the educational process, in addition to the donations from individual universities to their students. So now with the state needing to grant more aid than ever, it would seem ludicrous for them to turn around and cut their donations, right?
But this is indeed what they are doing. The New York State budget for 2003 has drastically reduced the amount of financial aid that will be given to residents.
Even if you object to the government spending money on education simply for the sake of the people getting it, you have to agree with it on fiscal terms. Take a look around the world and compare countries with highly literate and educated people to those without. Educated people inevitably become more successful than those who do not obtain an education.
In addition, the program pays for itself. Educated people on the whole make more money than uneducated, and through our graduated tax program end up paying more in taxes. Give a little to a person for a few years to get an education, and reap the rewards for decades.
So for the sake of the future, the private sector has to retake the burden they shirked in time of crisis. Give a little to educate the youth, either through local taxes to support public schools, or through charitable donations to universities such as this one, and it can only lead to better times.
