Clinton Unveils Plan for College Aid, Service : Education: President, at Rutgers, says the national project will reward civic work with student funding.

On the 32nd birthday of the Peace Corps, President Clinton unveiled a national service program Monday that he said would foster a new civic spirit while helping finance the education of a generation.

Clinton, speaking to college students at Rutgers University, invited young people to give one or two years of their lives to work as tutors, health care aides, police cadets or antipollution workers in exchange for help with college costs. The program would begin with a small pilot project this summer, if Congress approves.

“I came here to ask all of you to join me in a great national adventure,” Clinton told the audience, describing the plan as “something I believe in the next few years will change America forever--and for the better.”

But while the main purpose of his visit to the urban New Jersey campus was to press for enactment of his national service plan, he seized the opportunity, during an exchange with local reporters, to make his strongest statements to date on gun control.

In a clear swipe at the National Rifle Assn., which clashed with Clinton on the gun control issue during his tenure as Arkansas governor, the President said that the country “can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans to legitimately own handguns and rifles . . . that we are unable to think about the reality” of violence throughout the country.

“I hope the leadership of the National Rifle Assn. will go back to doing what it did when I was a boy”--providing information about hunting and safety rather than fighting gun control proposals like those here and in Virginia, he said.

He then praised Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder’s efforts to limit gun purchases and called New Jersey Gov. James J. Florio’s ongoing battle with a Republican Legislature to control semiautomatic and automatic weapons as “gutsy,” saying that he would push for enactment of the so-called Brady bill. The bill, named for former President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady, who was seriously wounded during an attempt on Reagan’s life, would require a five-day waiting period to purchase a gun.

Although the key message of the day was the national service plan, the details Clinton outlined Monday made it clear how much the government’s budget problems have forced him to curtail the sweeping scope of a program that was a key element of his campaign for the presidency.

If Congress approves the program, the national service effort would begin this summer with a small $15-million pilot demonstration and, according to plans, grow each year until the price tag for its first four years totals $7.4 billion.

As in the campaign, the blueprint includes two elements: the service program and a new college aid loan program that would allow students to borrow their college costs, then repay them over time as a small percentage of their income.

The second element is intended to allow young people to take low-paying but socially beneficial jobs in exchange for low-cost college loans. Its advocates argue that by replacing government-guaranteed loans with direct government loans, the program would eliminate lender costs and save some money.

Monday’s announcement seemed timed to help bolster Clinton’s popularity at a moment when he is working to maintain public support for his economic program. The national service program makes a point that he badly wants to emphasize: that, although his plan asks sacrifice of middle-class America, it also works in its interest.

Vice President Al Gore, his wife, Mary Elizabeth (Tipper), and three Clinton Cabinet members also promoted the proposals Monday.

The national service plan has been widely viewed as one of the most appealing parts of the Clinton program and was mentioned, often to loud applause, in his campaign speeches. The plan appeals to young people and parents worried about college costs and to a broader group of Americans who like the idea of harnessing the energies of young Americans to improve the country.

The concept has not been without its critics, however. Some contend that government should not try to force service on youth in return for college aid, asserting that it undercuts the notion of a truly voluntary effort. Some labor unions also have argued that service jobs would take away public employee positions.

The Administration predicts that 25,000 young people will participate in the service program in its first full year, which begins Oct. 1. About 100,000 would be participating by 1997, officials predict.

This summer’s pilot program is intended to put 1,000 young people to work in 4 to 10 communities around the country. This program would focus on the needs of disadvantaged children. Participants would tutor, organize recreation, work in anti-gang programs and drug clinics and aid in literacy programs.

“All across America we have problems that demand our common attention,” Clinton said. “National service will be America at its best.”

He urged that those who wish to join this summer’s pilot program should waste no time: “Drop me a card at the White House.”

Legislation to enact the national service and loan proposals will not be introduced in Congress for several weeks, and many key questions remain unanswered--including how much in educational costs the government will cover.

Eli Segal, director of Clinton’s national service program, said that the financial aid maximum and other financial issues “will all be taken up in the legislative process. You’ll have to give us a little longer.”

The government obviously could not pick up the $100,000-plus cost of a four-year Ivy League education, he said. But he suggested that government aid could cover most students’ financial needs, noting that the average four-year public education costs $24,000, and that the average student loan is $6,300.

Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) said that Clinton’s effort marks the first time since 1961 that such a service program has had presidential support.

“Nothing since has had the real backing of the White House,” he said. “That will really make a difference in how much gets done.”

He predicted that Clinton would win congressional support for the effort.

In his 35-minute speech, Clinton tried to draw parallels with other programs that rewarded Americans for working on national problems. He cited the land grant university legislation, the Homestead Act, the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps and the post-World War II GI Bill.

“National service is nothing more than the American way to change America,” he said.

To emphasize the parallel between this program and President John F. Kennedy’s Peace Corps, Clinton brought along a contingent of figures associated with that effort: Sargent Shriver, the corps’ first director; Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Pa.) and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), a former Peace Corps volunteer. Also present was Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a longtime advocate of such programs.

Clinton noted that for its widespread effects, the corps included no more than 16,000 volunteers at a time, compared with the 100,000-plus envisioned in this program.

After the Rutgers speech, Clinton was interviewed about the service program on MTV, the rock music cable network. The interview was broadcast Monday night.

Earlier, he toured a New Brunswick Public Schools Adult Learning Center, where Rutgers students and others help tutor adults on welfare and perform other work.

In response to a question, he denied that the public service program would grow into a huge “entitlement” program that automatically assumes the education costs of all young people. “We can’t let this become an absolute entitlement,” he said.

Who Will Be Eligible?

Some questions and answers on President Clinton’s proposed national service program:

Q: Will I get to go to college free?

A: No. But you would have two new ways to repay all or part of a government loan for college: through community service or regular payments based on a percentage of your income.

*

Q: How would the repayment program work?

A: Your percentage would be due at tax time. The IRS likely would monitor the repayment program.

*

Q: Would all of my federal college loans be repaid if I got involved in community service?

A: That depends on how much you owe and how Clinton structures his program. Eli Segal, Clinton’s top adviser on the program, said Monday there would be a cap on loan amounts forgiven by the federal government.

*

Q: How high would that cap be?

A: Segal doesn’t know yet, but he noted $6,300 is the average federal guaranteed student loan debt.

*

Q: Would everybody who wants to take the income-based payment option be able to?

A: Yes.

*

Q: Would everybody who wants to take the community service option be able to?

A: Probably not right away. There are only 1,000 slots available for a pilot project this year, costing about $15 million. The number will jump to 25,000 next year and peak at 100,000 in four years, according to Segal. Clinton said he believes the option will be available to everybody who wants it within four years.

*

Q: Who would be eligible for the community service program?

A: Students before, during and after college.

*

Q: Does this have to pass Congress?

A: Yes. The 1,000-job pilot project will be sent to Congress with Clinton’s economic stimulus package in the next few weeks. The broader program will go to Congress this spring--after Clinton irons out the details.

Source: Times wire reports