While Congress Plays Politics, New York State Must Invest in Young People

The proposals would, among many other bad ideas, freeze funding on Pell Grants for 10 years and eliminate mandatory funding for the program, leaving it vulnerable to the unstable political culture of Washington, D.C. Both budget proposals would charge students interest on all their loans while they’re still in school, costing the average borrower thousands of dollars more. Each budget also eliminates the Pay As You Earn student loan repayment program, which caps monthly payments based on borrower incomes to make payments more affordable for moderate- and low- income debt holders.

It’s concerning that Congress cares so little about an entire generation of young Americans — the very generation that will have to repair what today’s leaders have broken.

While Congress continues to play politics, states need to make investments so this generation isn’t subject to spiraling economic inequality and missed opportunities. As New York approaches its April 1 budget deadline, the governor and the state legislature need to prioritize policies that will help young people to fully realize their potential and participate in the economy.

As outlined in my critique of Governor Cuomo’s student loan program, New York State must: (1) inject resources into public higher education, (2) roll back tuition hikes, (3) reform the Tuition Assistance Program, and (4) require that economic develop initiatives include some type of student loan relief for employees.

But even those measures won’t be enough by themselves. In order for the state to forge ahead and truly invest in youth, it will also need to do the following:

1. Increase the minimum wage. With Millennials making up 71 percent of minimum wage workers, raising the wage would give young people a chance to pay down debt, invest in the economy, and start building their economic future.
2. Charge the governor’s 10 Regional Economic Development Councils with developing a serious comprehensive plan to integrate paid apprenticeship and internship programs into the criteria for doing business with the state. To help combat the double-digit unemployment rate for 16–24-year-olds across the country, New York State should take advantage of its economic development projects, like START UP NY and NY SUNY 2020, to (1) provide young people with income and (2) impart the skills necessary to compete in today’s economy.
3. Pass the NY DREAM Act to give thousands of New York’s undocumented youth access to state financial aid so they too can fully participate in the economy.
4. Expand Governor Cuomo’s proposal to double the Urban Youth Jobs Program. This will help reward businesses that hire and train inner-city youth. In addition, this will help give New Yorkers ages 16–24 the opportunity to learn professional skills while also getting paid.

Conservatives and progressives are both trying to shift the political pendulum in their direction as they gear up for the 2016 election, which will consequently shape the fabric of our political system for the next decade. But Republicans in Congress, as evidenced by their budget proposals, continue to forget about young people. It is now up to President Obama to reject these failed principles and for states to get serious about enacting the real policy changes we need to give young people a fighting chance.

As Roosevelt Network National Director Joelle Gamble articulates so well, “the young people who are inheriting the effects of the decisions made at all levels of government today… want to see investments made in a more prosperous future.”