Easley Wants Debt-Free Education for Some Students

WXII News

RALEIGH- Gov. Mike Easley has made creating a “seamless education system,” from pre-kindergarten through college, the hallmark of his time in office.

Now he wants to end his tenure by making low-income students a promise found in no other state: earn a four-year degree without going into debt.

To do it, students would have to forgo the traditional experience of spending four years on a university campus. Instead, they would earn two years worth of college credit by spending an extra year in high school.

Then they would move into college for two years with annual grants of $4,000. That’s enough to replace low-interest Stafford loans in the package of federal financial aid offered to low-income students.