Frist emailed me to tell me how he's helping college students!!!

[LynneSin]

(Lynne Note: Maybe if the asshole wasn't so hell bent on sending all our jobs overseas we wouldn't need this and the money is a joke with the cost of a college education. I emailed back that I take great joy in seeing Harold Ford Jr take over his seat in 2006 and that we will rejoice in watching Santorum going down in flames!)


I write to share good news with you about a new student aid initiative that represents a dramatic step toward promoting math and science education and ensuring America’s economic competitiveness in the future.

We know that China and India are generating scientists and engineers at a furious pace while America lags dangerously behind. Study after study calls for the government to act to address this problem. Passage of this program represents real action.

The new student aid program I created is called a SMART Grant. SMART Grants will provide $4000 per year to Pell Grant-eligible students who maintain a 3.0 GPA and major in math, science, engineering, technology, or foreign languages critical to national security during their third and fourth years of college. That means a Pell Grant-eligible student will obtain up to $8000 in additional assistance toward the cost of college if he or she chooses to major in those fields. These funds will incentivize more students to major in these time-intensive studies and help America produce the workforce it needs to compete in today’s global economy.

The bill also provides Academic Competitiveness Grants to first and second year students. $750 will go to first year students who complete a rigorous high school curriculum, and $1300 will go to second year students who complete a rigorous high school curriculum and maintain a 3.0 GPA in college. President Bush and Chairman Boehner (R-OH) deserve praise and credit for their leadership on these grants.

I have attached a chart that summarizes the tremendous college savings students can achieve through the SMART and Academic Competitiveness programs. SMART Grant recipients will save up to 75% on their college education!

The SMART and Academic Competitiveness Grants are authorized at $3.75 billion over five years and are paid for with program savings included in the budget deficit reduction bill approved by the Senate this morning.

These grants will help sustain America’s global legacy as a land of innovation, imagination, and initiative. I invite you to spread the word – please tell students, teachers, parents, and community leaders about SMART and the difference these grants will make to America’s students and the country as a whole.


Bill Frist

P.S. Viewing the attached chart requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which may be downloaded at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html free of charge.

(See attached file: FINAL SMART Chart.pdf)

[IndyOp]

1. These are the "military" grants -

More students who go to college if they agree to learn skills the military needs.

:grr:

[Maraya1969]

2. $4,000 per year with a total of $8,000 ??? Does he think no one will

notice? EDIT: I just notice he did mention that was for the last 2 years.

The money is pitiful.

[MichiganVote]

3. Send the crash cart to the middle Class----again.

[ticapnews]

4. Cannon fodder don't need no book learnin'

.

[rumpel]

5. I got one, too. These people do not live in the reality where 99% of the

citizens of this country live in.

[LynneSin]

6. I think the appeal of this is to the white middle class

I mean, if I had kids, that money could be of use because it might make the difference with getting my kid into college or having them stuck with community college. But for the working class lower income even that money might not be of use. Most major cities have plans setup to help kids get into community college, but the education there is only for 2 years and not the boost a child needs to get them pulled out of the poverty cycle.

It's another carrot dangled in front of millions of kids and it makes me sad!

[Democrat 4 Ever]

7. I got one, too. You think he is buying a Democrat email list?

Sounds like he is awfully desperate to me. I read through the email and thought what total BS from a smarmy, hateful, person.

And if anyone thinks we don't have a draft needs to think again. We do have a draft but it should be called what it is, an "Economic Draft." The repugs cut student loans, grants, etc. (with tutition and books going through the roof) while making sure that minimum wage stays artificially low. Anyone from a middle or lower class background who wants a better life can only get an education through the military (their Guns for Books program!). It is no accident that the repugs fight these programs tooth and nail - who is going to fight their wars for them if they can't force the middle class and poor to "earn" the privilege of an education? These kids serve so that the rich kids don't have to. Economic Draft, Class Draft, call it what you want but we have a draft.

[NoPasaran]

8. And here I thought he was rounding up kitties again

:evilgrin:

[Lone_Wolf]

9. This bill makes it harder for the poor to get into college...

It is designed to help get cannon fodder for military recruiters.

[Nutmegger]

10. What a bunch of bull

I'm a full time college student and get close to nothing for financial aid basically because we're a middle-class family. I'm not poor enough to be eligible for the programs and not rich enough to pay for school in a snap of a finger. I had to put part of the tuition on a credit card! (which is being slooowly paid off). Not to mention that tuition is increasing yet AGAIN! Damn them.... :grr:

[Ciggies and coffee]

11. College tuition should be funded 100 percent

If we want more class equality, since a degree is a great division line
in the job market.

I wish the people of TN could do better than Harold Ford.
http://www.blackcommentator.com/79/79_fr_ford.html If I was a Tennessean, I would pull the lever for him (provided TN has not entered the dark ages of electro-vote), but would not have a large meal before hitting the polls.

[Tsiyu]

12. I got the same e-mail

and all I've ever done is e-mail or call his office with complaints.

Nice try, Billy. but you know what?

If I could make a decent wage here in America, my kids wouldn't need tuition assistance.

If we didn't spend so much on warmongering - that you support- and our prison nation - that you support - we could afford to help ALL students through college.

And lastly, if my kids' Repuke family - who have more money than Gawd hisself - could love the kids more than they hate me, the hate-filled Repukites might loosen a bit of $$$ to help them through college. As it is, they didn't even do so much as call them for the holidays. They have just abandoned these kids, because their mother is a "librull" and helping their own flesh and blood mught in some way help me.

Fuck off, Frist. It's too little too late - offering up a crumb when your richer than rich self has made $$$$$$$$$ destroying my beloved nation.

Just Fuck off....