LONDONDERRY, N.H. (AP) – Presidential hopeful Bill Richardson on Saturday said college loans should be forgiven if graduates complete a year of national service.
Richardson plans to unveil the specifics of his education plan in Portsmouth in a few weeks. But during a house party in a Londonderry backyard, he gave voters a preview.
“As part of your college loan structure – in other words we’ll pay them off, if you give your country one year of national service: work in a forest, clean up a forest … work in a hospital, go in the military, go in the Peace Corps, go in Vista,” he said.
He said he would work within existing plans to build opportunities for service.
“I’m big on national service. … You will have a friend in me,” Richardson told an AmeriCorps alumnus.
Richardson’s plan, which is still being developed, would give loan incentives for students who use their education to help their communities.
“I want to specifically link amounts and loan structure to national service,” Richardson said. “For two or three of those years (of college debt), the government will pay off your loans, but you’ve got to give us a year of national service.”
He also said his plan would link incentives for nontraditional studies, including vocational schools and trades programs.
“My idea of education is between 3 and 99 years of age,” he said.
Richardson said not enough presidential candidates are talking about education.
“Nobody talks about education. It’s not at the top of the polls,” Richardson said. “I happen to think this is the most important issue facing our families, economic development and competitiveness.”
Richardson has proposed a national minimum wage for teachers, a complete repeal of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind policy and massive investment in schools.
A spokeswoman for John Edwards said he is working to expand access as well.
“He has proposed a College for Everyone program that gives kids who might otherwise not have the opportunity a chance to go to college, and he has implemented the program in a county in eastern North Carolina,” Kate Bedingfield said.
Richardson, the New Mexico governor and Clinton-era Cabinet secretary, trails his better known rivals. But in recent months, he has gained ground in early states’ polls. His quirky television ads and on-the-ground campaigning have helped him narrow Clinton’s and Sen. Barack Obama’s leads.
Richardson hopes his aggressively anti-war message will help connect with voters in a state that ousted two congressmen in 2006.
“Nothing can happen unless we get our troops out,” said Richardson, who joined his peers to skip states that break party rules by holding early primaries, a move that leaves front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton alone in planning to compete in Florida and Michigan.
“I’m back again. I was here just last week,” Richardson said. And he said he would keep coming back. “We won’t campaign anywhere unless New Hampshire’s role is protected.”
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