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Carleton [College] Commencement 6/10/00
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FOIA Number: 2006-0467-F
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the William J. Clinton
Presidential Library Staff.
Collection/Record Group:
Clinton Presidential Records
Subgroup/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting
Series/Staff Member:
Jeff Shesol
Subseries:
OA/ID Number:
21461
FolderID:
Folder Title:
Carleton [College] Commencement 6/10/00
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
S
91
6
10
3
Withdrawal/Redaction Sheet
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
001. note
Handwritten. Commencement Meeting. (4 pages)
06/05/2000
P5
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
Speechwriting
Jeff Shesol
OA/Box Number: 21461
FOLDER TITLE:
Carleton [College] Commencement 6/10/00
2006-0467-F
vz1317
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - [44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information [(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA]
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute [(a)(3) of the PRA]
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRA]
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRA]
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
call Printson/puent
WSWP
CDFIS" /CRA
current efforts
Admin (E25,Ctc.)
pcatalyst tan chor
city (Daeey) - K-K (which?) college
RFU quote?
Rush (4-part plan - initiased?)
Jackson (met on 10/13)
PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPY
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
001. note
Handwritten. Commencement Meeting. (4 pages)
06/05/2000
P5
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
Speechwriting
Jeff Shesol
OA/Box Number: 21461
FOLDER TITLE:
Carleton [College] Commencement 6/10/00
2006-0467-F
vz1317
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - [44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - [5 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA]
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate я Federal statute [(a)(3) of the PRA]
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors |a)(5) of the PRA]
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRA]
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
-
BRUCE
REED
THE WHITE HOUSE
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON
see brambling
The Time Bind
- POTUS called for variety of things:
Bust of smiller
1) AShDor- states use UI for pd. leave
streaturez?
Now
final rule for st. leg.
Gisenhower
(MA on verge of passing)
(Anne O'leary on UI)
larger pt.
FMLA - great - changes lives -
but too many cant afford to take
adv. - 1st few mos. Critical
- we and encourage states to do this
- will strengthen UI
- DPM Pt - early days of UI
(wash SA. or Ny had it Then
applied it nationwide)
parallels to Churchill + another
prog. eva
2) Jennings CHIPs policy
- can we get done? by admin action?
allow St. to use supers CHIP funds for parents
POTUS
Oval office 6/9
Direct loan - save students / colleges
one of maj adi.
how many people toole
5m in prog
save # avg over $1500
86 overall forstundents
$56
for colleges
lifetime
1,200 colleges ton
- in it ,
IF not, don't put heat on them
Broader
kvall
$96
students - fee savings +
int. rate
$56
goot
- since.
founding 1993 prog.
Efforts to improve quality of pub ed?
Aug. student over
life of loan?
paint picture
5% incm contingent
GS: take more credit for competition
brought down COSB for
everybody, students fees at
careeton +
flexibility in diff times
other places
But more important
to switch to incm contingency
# HOPE scholarship 10m?
adequately describe diff b/w this + LL
more than 10m HOPE and IL
1>
worker
Geul:
1993 created
than wd take mid man out
so condents cd vorrow easier, save fees, more repay options
over 1200 schles how
Jut as important
new comp
fees + int rates for
students in trad student loan prog Whe those of you here
at carebrow
Draft 6/1/00 6:00pm
OUTLINE FOR PROPOSED
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS ON ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
CARLETON COLLEGE
NORTHFIELD, MN
June 10, 2000
Introduction
Acknowledgments and local color
Third Way Framework
One of things most grateful for is opportunity to put to rest argument that you can't
strengthen the economy and protect the environment
Accomplishments
Economic successes
Environmental successes
Clean air, clean water, oceans
Land
Everglades, etc.
Previous Monument, Park designations
VP's Hanford announcement yesterday
Deliverable: New Monument designations
Greatest challenge of 21st century: Global Warming
Define the problem
Deliverable: discuss National Assessment of Climate Change (USGCRP)
Great optimism that we have the technology to meet this challenge
The big choice:
Technology-based, proactive approach to energy and energy efficiency or short-
sighted, stop-gap approach: dependency on foreign oil, drilling in environmentally
sensitive areas
The choice is clear
Our agenda meets the challenge of global warming with new technology.
Power
Examples, including renewables, including biomass fuels
Transportation
Examples, including PNGV
Homes
Technology examples, including fuel cells, etc.
Unfortunately, some in Congress are wedding to old industrial-age approach
Appropriations
Riders
Special interest over the public interest
Conclusion TK
Draft 6/5/00 1:45pm
Shesol/ Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS ON ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
CARLETON COLLEGE
NORTHFIELD, MN
June 10, 2000
Thank you, President Lewis. And congratulations to the Class of 2000. This is a very
proud day for you, your parents, siblings, grandparents, and friends. I am proud that you have
given me an opportunity to share it with you.
For years, I've been hearing about what a wonderful place this is from friends and staff
members who had the pleasure of studying here for four years. They tell me that from the
moment you step foot on this beautiful campus, "you are a part of Carleton and Carleton is a part
of you." They tell me that Carleton is my kind of school: A school that celebrates the great
value of diversity, fosters community service, and nurtures environmental awareness. A school
that exemplifies "excellence without elitism." A school where the President of the college gets
to sing like Elvis.
President Lewis, I want you to know I've seen a bootleg copy of your performance of
"Hound Dog." Now, I love Elvis. Elvis was a nickname of mine. And you, sir, made one fine
Elvis. In fact, you did such a fine job that a few students and I pitched in to get an award for
you. It may not seem like a whole lot, but they tell me it has sentimental value. [President
produces the bust of Schiller.] Of course, Schiller was no Elvis. But the students assured me
that you'd like it.
Draft 06/06/00 5:00pm
OUTLINE
CARLETON COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS ON
A NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT FOR WORKING AMERICANS
June 10, 2000
Introduction
Graduating at great moment in history
Overall accomplishments
How do we make most of this moment?
Opportunity, community, responsibility
Today, talk about expanding opportunity
New notion of opportunity/ new social contract for working Americans
Third Way frame
Then and now
Role of government
Accomplishments/ Agenda
SOTU/budget
EITC
Minimum wage
Child care tax credit
Health care: CHIP expansion
Education: college opportunity, lifelong learning
Deliverables
Paid leave
Fatherhood
Welfare to work
Conclusion
aseam
HHH or RFK quote
also
office
COPY
THE WHITE HOUSE
*420781*
WASHINGTON
June 8, 2000
SP1536
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
FROM:
J. TERRY EDMONDS
D
JEFF SHESOL
LOWELL WEISS
CC:
JOHN PODESTA
KAREN TRAMONTANO
SUBJECT:
CARLETON COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
Attached is a draft of your Saturday commencement address at Carleton College in
Northfield, Minnesota. As you know, the subject of this speech is the growing importance of
higher education and the steps we are taking to expand college opportunity.
This draft reflects the input of Bruce Reed, Gene Sperling, Karen Tramontano, Loretta
Ucelli, Sid Blumenthal, and Tom Freedman.
We will make final revisions based upon your comments on this draft, and from our prep
session with you Friday afternoon.
Thank you.
Draft 06/08/00 10:45pm
Shesol/ Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS ON EXPANDING COLLEGE OPPORTUNITY
CARLETON COLLEGE
NORTHFIELD, MN
June 10, 2000
Thank you, President Lewis. And congratulations to the Class of 2000. This is a very proud
day for you, your parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. I am grateful that you have given me
an opportunity to share it with you.
Acknowledge: Carleton trustees and faculty members, including your long-time colleague
Sen. Paul Wellstone; student speakers Faisal Mohyuddin [FIE-zil moe-ha-DEEN], Sachin Patel
[SATCH-in pa-TEL], and Katie Beebe [BEE-bee]; honorary degree recipients Bruno Nettl and
George Dixon; Lt. Gov. Mae Schunk; Mayor Bill Rossman and the community of Northfield.
For years, I've been hearing what a wonderful place this is from friends who had the
pleasure of studying here - people like my advisor Tom Freedman, Class of '85, and his classmate,
John Harris of The Washington Post. They tell me that from the moment you set foot on this
beautiful campus, "you are a part of Carleton and Carleton is a part of you." [unofficial motto of the
school] They tell me Carleton is my kind of school: A school that celebrates diversity, that nurtures
creativity, that fosters a lifelong commitment to community service.
1
A school whose students and faculty exemplify "excellence without elitism." A school where the
President of the college gets to sing like Elvis.
I want to thank the graduates for such a generous welcome for my final commencement
speech as President. I am proud to be the first sitting President to come to Carleton. And I'm proud
to be - and I believe history will record this - the first sitting President to have his portrait painted
on the water tower. Now, I heard it wasn't the greatest likeness in the world, but I don't think that
was any reason to paint it over.
And you know, I don't usually accept gifts, but a group of students absolutely insisted that I
take home a souvenir of my stay. I think it's just great. What do you think?
[Reveal "Bust of Schiller. "]
I appreciate it. I really do. But I don't think this looks like me, either.
You are graduating at a remarkable moment in history. The year 2000 will be fixed in
memory not only because the world has turned a very important calendar page, but because
America has entered an era of unparalleled promise. We begin the 21st century with more than 22
million new jobs. We have the lowest unemployment rates in more than 30 years; the lowest
poverty rates in 20 years; the lowest African American and Hispanic unemployment rates on record;
and the longest period of economic growth in our entire history.
2
Never before has America experienced this kind of sustained prosperity. And never before
has any nation had the opportunity and responsibility we now have to shape a world that is more
peaceful, secure, and free. I think it is worth noting that today is the one-year anniversary of the
day when Serbian troops - accepting NATO's terms - began their withdrawal from Kosovo.
Today, troops from 39 nations - including 5,500 Americans - are working to bring Kosovo back to
life. The sound of gunfire has been replaced by the sound of jackhammers - as roads, homes, and
schools are rebuilt. Almost a million refugees have returned home. And this fall, the people of
Kosovo will go to the polls to vote in the first democratic elections in Kosovo's history. America's
men and women in uniform not only won the war. Today, they are helping secure the peace.
Here at home, the world you're about to enter is changing dramatically. The American
pulse is quickening. The flow of ideas and information is picking up. Technologies that scarcely
existed when you first entered school are now driving the new, and truly global, economy. It is a
powerful, sweeping transformation - the scope of which we have only begun to comprehend.
This changing world belongs to you. Not just because you're young, but because your
education at Carleton has endowed you with exactly the right skills to succeed: the curiosity to
embrace new ideas, the creativity to imagine a more-perfect world, and the confidence to build it,
step by step.
Your college years have been a blessing. Of course, for many Americans, an education and
an experience like yours remain little more than a dream. And that is what I am here to talk about
today - our obligation, at this moment of great promise, to give all students the chance to fulfill
their God-given potential to give all Americans the ability to thrive in this dynamic new
economy to fulfill, at long last, our Founders' vision of opportunity for all.
3
Two centuries ago, at our nation's founding, opportunity meant, most of all, the freedom to
carve a farm and an existence out of the forest frontier. In the Industrial Age, the Progressives saw
that it meant something different. It meant a high school education, a vocational education, a new
emphasis on science and reason. Today, we know that it means something more. It means higher
education or lifelong learning for every American. It means mastering new tools and technologies.
It means the ability to think broadly, adjust quickly, to seize the potential of this Information Age.
Today, a college education is not a luxury; it is a necessity. In the coming years, the number
of new jobs requiring a bachelor's degree will grow more than twice as fast as jobs that don't. The
three fastest growing occupations require at least a bachelor's degree and pay much better than
average. America can't afford to leave any students behind simply because they can't afford to pay
for college:
I came from a family in which no one had ever attended college. And yet, from the time I
was a child, my mother, my grandmother, and my stepfather told me I was going to college. And I
believed them. I remember the day I was accepted to Georgetown. The school gave me a $500
scholarship. Simply put, it made it possible for me to go. And if I hadn't, there's no way I'd be
standing here today.
When I became President, I had no greater priority than giving every hard-working student
the same chance that was given to me. That means our children must start school ready to learn and
graduate ready to succeed. So we have dramatically expanded and improved the quality of early-
childhood education, preschool, and after-school. We have insisted on higher standards, greater
accountability, and extra help so children can reach those higher standards.
4
We have invested in public school choice, in attracting talented new teachers, in reducing class
sizes, in connecting all our schools to the Internet.
And, from the very start, we have worked to open the doors of college to every American.
In fact, we have more than doubled college aid - something that was long overdue. I know that
many of you have benefited from that assistance; President Lewis tells me that more than half of
you have reached this day due not only to your parents' and your own hard work but to
scholarships, grants, and loans.
In just seven years, we expanded Pell grants by more than 40 percent. We rewrote the
student loan program to increase competition, to give aid directly to students, to make it cheaper to
get the aid you need. And we're now enabling graduates to pay off their loans as a percentage of
their income - because no students should ever have to drop out of school for fear that they can't
repay their loans.
We expanded the federal work-study program, to help a million students a year work their
way through school. We created AmeriCorps, which has given 150,000 young people the chance to
earn money for college while they serve their communities. We gave families across America the
ability to put their savings in new Education IRAs, to help them save for college, tax-free.
We created the $1,500 HOPE Scholarship tax credit, to make the 13th and 14th years of
education as universal as the first twelve. We launched a Lifetime Learning tax credit, which helps
families pay for the last two years of college, for graduate school, or for job training. In 1998 alone,
nearly 5 million Americans used these tax credits to open the doors of college, to open new doors of
opportunity.
5
Across America, more and more students are taking advantage of these new opportunities.
Today, I am releasing a new report that makes this clear. The study shows that in the past seven
years, America has achieved the greatest expansion of college opportunity since the G.I. Bill, 50
years ago. As student aid has increased, so has college attendance, to record levels. Fully two-
thirds of high-school graduates go straight to college, an all-time high. And for the first time in
history, a majority of young African-Americans are enrolling in higher education. America is on
the right track.
The report also documents the growing value of a college education. The earnings gap
between those who have a bachelor's degree and those who don't is growing dramatically. Over the
course of a career, a person with a bachelor's degree will earn $600,000 more, on average, than than
a person with only a high school degree. The return on a college investment is nearly double the
stock market's historical rate of return.
This report is full of good news. But it also shows that we can do better. Even with the new
forms of financial aid - and even though the rise in tuition costs have slowed over the past few
years - the vast majority of families are still feeling stretched. After all, over the past twenty years,
the cost of college has quadrupled. I know many parents here today have taken second mortgages,
or second jobs, to pay those tuition bills.
So to build on the success of our HOPE scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits, I
have proposed a landmark $30 billion college opportunity tax cut that will benefit millions of
middle-class families. It will allow them to deduct up to $10,000 in tuition costs, providing as
much as $2,800 in much-needed tax relief.
6
This will make a big difference for many of the families here today who have younger children. We
need Congress to act - and to act this year - to pass this tax cut into law.
But I didn't create HOPE Scholarships, or propose College Opportunity tax cuts, simply
because they are crucial for our families. In the Information Age, we know that investing in
intellectual capital is just as important as investing in industrial capital. We give tax relief today to
businesses that invest in new plants and equipment. We ought to give tax relief to families that
invest in their children's potential.
This is the right kind of tax cut for America - it is, like the others I have proposed, a targeted
tax cut. It preserves our fiscal discipline today and lays the groundwork for future growth. Last
year, I had to veto a big, across-the-board tax cut that did neither of these things. In fact, the tax
plan I vetoed would have squeezed out our investments in education, undermined our progress, and
risked our prosperity. This year, I hope the Congress will work with me to pass the right kind of tax
cuts - right for our families and right for our future. And, at the same time, I'm going to insist that
Congress send me a budget that invests more in our schools, while demanding more of them; that
gives more of our young people a chance to serve with AmeriCorps; that reduces class size and
gives all our students safe and modern schools.
There are two other things we must do this year. First, as we help more Americans go to
college, we must also help more Americans stay in college. Today, nearly 40 percent of all college
students drop out before they earn a degree. I have called on Congress to fund new College.
Completion Challenge Grants. These grants would provide pre-freshman summer programs and
support services for students who might never make it to graduation day - who might never put on
the cap and gown to take those proud strides across the stage, as you're about to do.
7
Second, we must make sure all students, especially those from our hardest-pressed families,
can find the college doors we've worked so hard to open. In many communities - even here in this
beautiful college town - there are young people who grow up not knowing how important, and how
possible, college really is. Maybe no one's pushing them to take algebra and other classes
important for college. Maybe they don't know how to secure scholarships, grants, and loans. That
is why I have asked Congress to work with us to expand our GEAR UP and TRIO initiatives, so
that we can reach out to these students - as early as 6th grade - and instill in them high hopes that
they can go to college and the high expectations that they will succeed.
Taken together, these steps will provide students with the support they need; families with
the college relief they need; our economy with the skilled workforce we need; and our nation with
active, informed citizens. Now, some people question whether we can achieve all these goals.
They are the same people who said, seven years ago, that we couldn't boost investment in education
while balancing our budget. In fact, we've done both - restoring fiscal discipline while doubling
our investment in education and training. So I believe we can get it done - and Congress should get
it done this year.
A hundred years from now, the Carleton Class of 2100 will sit in these seats, will look up at
this podium, and perhaps a future President will reflect back on this remarkable age. Let us hope
that he - or she - can say that the first steps we took in this century were the right steps.. that we
made the most of this moment of promise.
To the first graduating class of the 21st century, I offer my congratulations - for challenges
conquered, for projects completed, for goals reached and even surpassed. You and your parents
should be very proud - and very confident as you venture forth from this campus.
8
But to make the very most of the opportunities you have been given, you must rise to your
responsibility - the responsibility of empowering others. As the years pass, your work will be
judged, and you will judge yourselves, on the lives you touch - on the ways, large and small, that
you give back. If you embrace this responsibility, if you turn your opportunities into opportunities
for others, then you will not only be leaders in the arts and sciences, in business and industry. You
will be the leaders of our nation. Good luck. May "Carleton always be with you. And may God
bless you all.
###
9
9/8/00
Pat Young:
Attached are some items that were forwarded to the President.
We have never received the original back from the POTUS.
Yours to handle.
Carol Cleveland
IntroSpect
ORM
SCANNING INSERT SHEET
REMAINDER OF CASE NOT SCANNED
Draft 06/09/00 :10pm
Shesol/ Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS ON EXPANDING COLLEGE OPPORTUNITY
CARLETON COLLEGE
NORTHFIELD, MN
June 10, 2000
Thank you, President Lewis. And congratulations to the Class of 2000. This is a very proud
day for you, your parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. I am grateful that you have given me
an opportunity to share it with you.
Acknowledge: Carleton trustees and faculty members, including your long-time colleague
Sen. Paul Wellstone; student speakers Faisal Mohyuddin [FASS-il moe-ya-DEEN], Sachin Patel [sa-
CHEEN pah-TELL], and Katie Beebe [BEE-bee]; honorary degree recipients Bruno Nettl and
George Dixon; Lt. Gov. Mae Schunk; Mayor Bill Rossman and the community of Northfield.
For years, I've been hearing what a wonderful place this is from those who had the pleasure
of studying here - people like my advisor Tom Freedman, Class of '85, and his college roommate,
John Harris of The Washington Post. They tell me that from the moment you set foot on this
beautiful campus, "you are a part of Carleton and Carleton is a part of you." [unofficial motto of the
school] They tell me Carleton is my kind of school: A school that celebrates diversity. A school
whose students and faculty exemplify "excellence without elitism." A school where the President
of the college gets to sing like Elvis.
I want to thank the graduates for such a generous welcome. I am proud to be the first sitting
President to come to Carleton. And I'm proud to be the first sitting President to have his portrait
painted on a water tower. Now, I heard it wasn't the greatest likeness in the world, but I don't
think that was any reason to paint it over.
And you know, I don't usually accept gifts, but a group of students absolutely insisted that I
take home a souvenir of my stay. I think it's just great. What do you think?
[Reveal "Bust of Schiller. "]
I appreciate it. I really do. But I don't think this looks like me, either.
You are graduating at a remarkable moment in history. The year 2000 will be fixed in
memory not only because the world has turned a very important calendar page, but because
America has entered an era of unparalleled promise. We begin the 21st century with more than 22
million new jobs. We have the lowest unemployment rates in more than 30 years; the lowest
poverty rates in 20 years; the lowest African American and Hispanic unemployment rates on record;
and the longest period of economic growth in our entire history.
Never before has America experienced this kind of sustained prosperity. And never before
has any nation had the opportunity we now have to shape a world that is more peaceful and free. I
think it is worth noting that today is the one-year anniversary of the day when Serbian troops -
accepting NATO's terms - began their withdrawal from Kosovo. Today, troops from 39 nations -
1
including 5,500 Americans - are working to bring Kosovo back to life. Almost a million refugees
have returned home. And this fall, the people of Kosovo will go to the polls to vote in the first
democratic elections in Kosovo's history. America's men and women in uniform not only won the
war. Today, they are helping secure the peace.
Here at home, the world you're about to enter is changing dramatically. The American
pulse is quickening. The flow of ideas and information is picking up. Technologies that scarcely
existed when you first entered school are now driving the new, and truly global, economy. It is a
powerful, sweeping transformation - the scope of which we have only begun to comprehend.
This changing world belongs to you. Not just because you're young, but because your
education at Carleton has endowed you with exactly the right skills to succeed: the curiosity to
embrace new ideas, the creativity to imagine a more-perfect world, and the confidence to build it,
step by step.
Your college years have been a blessing. Of course, for many Americans, an education and
an experience like yours remain little more than a dream. And that is what I am here to talk about
today - our obligation, at this moment of great promise, to give all students the chance to reach their
God-given potential to fulfill, at long last, our Founders' vision of opportunity for all.
Two centuries ago, at our nation's founding, opportunity meant, most of all, the freedom to
carve a farm and an existence out of the forest frontier. In the Industrial Age, the Progressives saw
that it meant something different. It meant a high school education, a vocational education, a new
emphasis on science and reason. Today, we know that it means something more. It means more
than 12 years of education for every American. It means mastering new tools and technologies. It
means the ability to think broadly, adjust quickly, to continue learning for a lifetime.
Today, a college education is not a luxury; it is a necessity. In the coming years, the number
of new jobs requiring a bachelor's degree will grow more than twice as fast as jobs that don't. The
three fastest growing occupations require at least a bachelor's degree and pay much better than
average. America can't afford to leave any students behind simply because they can't afford to pay
for college.
I came from a family in which no one had ever attended college. And yet, from the time I
was a child, my mother, my grandmother, and my stepfather told me I was going to college. And I
believed them. I remember the day I was accepted to Georgetown. The school gave me a $500
scholarship. Simply put, it made it possible for me to go. And if I hadn't, there's no way I'd be
standing here today.
When I became President, I had no greater priority than giving every hard-working student
the same chance that was given to me. That means our children must start school ready to learn and
graduate college ready to succeed. So we have dramatically expanded and improved the quality of
early-childhood education, preschool, and after-school. We have insisted on higher standards,
greater accountability, and extra help so children can reach those higher standards. We have
invested in public school choice, in attracting talented new teachers, in reducing class sizes, in
connecting all our schools to the Internet.
And, from the very start, we have worked to open the doors of college to every American.
In fact, we have more than doubled college aid - something that was long overdue.
2
In 1993, we created the Direct Student Loan program that has taken out the middle man and
saved America's students $9 billion in just seven years. Students can now borrow more easily and
pay back their loans as a percentage of their income - reducing the chances that students will drop
out of school for fear they cannot repay their loans increasing the chances they'll take the proud
strides across the stage you're about to take. More than 1,200 colleges now participate in the Direct
Loan Program. And even at schools that don't, students benefit from the increased competition the
program has sparked in the traditional loan market - bringing down fees and interest rates for all
students.
In just seven years, we expanded Pell grants by more than 40 percent. We expanded the
federal work-study program, to help a million students a year work their way through school. We
created AmeriCorps, which has given 150,000 young people the chance to earn money for college
while they serve their communities. We gave families across America the ability to put their
savings in new Education IRAs, to help them save for college, tax-free.
We created the $1,500 HOPE Scholarship tax credit, to make the first two years of college
as universal as high school. To help families afford the last two years of college - as well as
graduate school and job training - we also launched a Lifetime Learning tax cut, providing a 20%
credit against tuition and fees. This year alone, we expect that well over 10 million Americans will
use HOPE Scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits to open the doors of college, to open new
doors of opportunity.
In the past seven years, America has achieved the greatest expansion of college opportunity
since the G.I. Bill, 50 years ago. Today, I am releasing a new report that makes this clear. As
student aid has increased, so has college attendance, to record levels. Fully two-thirds of high-
school graduates go straight to college, an all-time high. And for the first time in history, a majority
of young African-Americans is enrolling in higher education.
The report also documents the growing value of a college education. The earnings gap
between those who have a bachelor's degree and those who don't is growing dramatically. Over the
course of a career, a person with a bachelor's degree will earn $600,000 more, on average, than a
person with only a high school degree. The return on a college investment is now nearly double the
stock market's historical rate of return.
This report is full of good news. But it also shows that we can do better. Even with the new
forms of financial aid - and even though the rise in tuition costs has slowed over the past few years
- the majority of families are still feeling stretched. Over the past twenty years, the cost of college
has quadrupled. I know many parents here today have taken second mortgages, or second jobs, to
pay those tuition bills.
So to build on the success of our HOPE scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits, I
have proposed a landmark $30 billion college opportunity tax cut that will benefit millions of
middle-class families. It will allow them to deduct up to $10,000 in tuition costs, providing as
much as $2,800 in much-needed tax relief. We need Congress to pass this tax cut into law.
Because in the Information Age, investing in intellectual capital is every bit as important as
investing in industrial capital.
3
There is something else we must do this year. We must make sure all students, especially
those from our hardest-pressed families, can find the college doors we've worked so hard to open.
In many communities - even here in this beautiful college town - there are young people who grow
up unaware of how important, and how possible, college really is. Maybe no one's pushing them to
take algebra and other classes important for college. Maybe they don't know how to secure
scholarships, grants, and loans. I have asked Congress to work with us to expand our GEAR UP and
TRIO initiatives, so that we can reach out to these students - as early as 6ᵗʰ grade - and instill in
them high hopes that they can go to college and the high expectations that they will succeed when
they get there.
If we do these things - and if Congress works with me to pass a budget that invests more in
our public schools and demands more from them - we can provide students with the support they
need; families with the relief they need; our economy with the skilled workforce we need; and our
nation with active, informed citizens. Now, some people question whether we can reach all these
goals. They are the same people who said, seven years ago, that we couldn't boost investment in
education while balancing our budget. In fact, we've done both - restoring fiscal discipline while
doubling our investment in education and training. So I believe we can get it done - and Congress
should get it done this year.
A hundred years from now, the Carleton Class of 2100 will sit in these seats, will look up at
this podium, and perhaps a future President will reflect on this remarkable age. Let us hope that he
- or she - can say that the first steps we took in this century were the right steps that we made the
most of this moment of promise.
To the first graduating class of the 21st century, I offer my congratulations - for challenges
conquered, for projects completed, for goals reached and even surpassed. You and your parents
should be very proud - and very confident as you venture forth from this campus.
But to make the very most of the opportunities you have been given, you must rise to your
responsibility: As the years pass, your work will be judged, and you will judge yourselves, on the
lives you touch - on the ways, large and small, that you give back. If you embrace this
responsibility, if you turn your opportunities into opportunities for others, then you will not only be
leaders in the arts and sciences, in business and industry. You will be the leaders of our nation.
Good luck. May "Carleton always be with you." And may God bless you all.
###
4
Draft 06/09/00 8:10pm
Shesol/ Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
ON EXPANDING COLLEGE OPPORTUNITY
CARLETON COLLEGE
NORTHFIELD, MN
June 10, 2000
Thank you, President Lewis. And congratulations to
the Class of 2000. This is a very proud day for you, your
parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. I am grateful
that you have given me an opportunity to share it with you.
Acknowledge: Carleton trustees and faculty members,
including your long-time colleague Sen. Paul Wellstone;
student speakers Faisal Mohyuddin [FASS-il Toe-ya-
DEEN], Sachin Patel [sa-CHEEN pah-TELL], and Katie
Beebe [BEE-bee]; honorary degree recipients Bruno Nettl
and George Dixon; Lt. Gov. Mae Schunk; Mayor Bill
Rossman and the community of Northfield.
1
For years, I've been hearing what a wonderful place
this is from those who had the pleasure of studying here -
people like my advisor Tom Freedman, Class of '85, and
his college roommate, John Harris of The Washington Post.
They tell me that from the moment you set foot on this
beautiful campus, "you are a part of Carleton and Carleton
is a part of you." [unofficial motto of the school] They tell
me Carleton is my kind of school: A school that celebrates
diversity. A school whose students and faculty exemplify
"excellence without elitism." A school where the President
of the college gets to sing like Elvis.
2
I want to thank the graduates for such a generous
welcome. I am proud to be the first sitting President to
come to Carleton. And I'm proud to be the first sitting
President to have his portrait painted on a water tower.
Now, I heard it wasn't the greatest likeness in the world,
but I don't think that was any reason to paint it over.
And you know, I don't usually accept gifts, but a group
of students absolutely insisted that I take home a souvenir
of my stay. I think it's just great. What do you think?
[Reveal "Bust of Schiller. "]
I appreciate it. I really do. But I don't think this looks
like me, either.
3
You are graduating at a remarkable moment in history.
The year 2000 will be fixed in memory not only because
the world has turned a very important calendar page, but
because America has entered an era of unparalleled
promise. We begin the 21st century with more than 22
million new jobs. We have the lowest unemployment rates
in more than 30 years; the lowest poverty rates in 20 years;
the lowest African American and Hispanic unemployment
rates on record; and the longest period of economic growth
in our entire history.
Never before has America experienced this kind of
sustained prosperity. And never before has any nation had
the opportunity we now have to shape a world that is more
peaceful and free.
4
I think it is worth noting that today is the one-year
anniversary of the day when Serbian troops - accepting
NATO's terms - began their withdrawal from Kosovo.
Today, troops from 39 nations - including 5,500 Americans
- are working to bring Kosovo back to life. Almost a
million refugees have returned home. And this fall, the
people of Kosovo will go to the polls to vote in the first
democratic elections in Kosovo's history. America's men
and women in uniform not only won the war. Today, they
are helping secure the peace.
Here at home, the world you're about to enter is
changing dramatically. The American pulse is quickening.
The flow of ideas and information is picking up.
5
Technologies that scarcely existed when you first entered
school are now driving the new, and truly global, economy.
It is a powerful, sweeping transformation - the scope of
which we have only begun to comprehend.
This changing world belongs to you. Not just because
you're young, but because your education at Carleton has
endowed you with exactly the right skills to succeed: the
curiosity to embrace new ideas, the creativity to imagine a
more-perfect world, and the confidence to build it, step by
step.
Your college years have been a blessing. Of course,
for many Americans, an education and an experience like
yours remain little more than a dream.
6
And that is what I am here to talk about today - our
obligation, at this moment of great promise, to give all
students the chance to reach their God-given potential
to
fulfill, at long last, our Founders' vision of opportunity for
all.
Two centuries ago, at our nation's founding,
opportunity meant, most of all, the freedom to carve a farm
and an existence out of the forest frontier. In the Industrial
Age, the Progressives saw that it meant something different.
It meant a high school education, a vocational education, a
new emphasis on science and reason.
7
Today, we know that it means something more. It means
more than 12 years of education for every American. It
means mastering new tools and technologies. It means the
ability to think broadly, adjust quickly, to continue learning
for a lifetime.
Today, a college education is not a luxury; it is a
necessity. In the coming years, the number of new jobs
requiring a bachelor's degree will grow more than twice as
fast as jobs that don't. The three fastest growing
occupations require at least a bachelor's degree and pay
much better than average. America can't afford to leave
any students behind simply because they can't afford to pay
for college.
8
I came from a family in which no one had ever
attended college. And yet, from the time I was a child, my
mother, my grandmother, and my stepfather told me I was
going to college. And I believed them. I remember the day
I was accepted to Georgetown. The school gave me a $500
scholarship. Simply put, it made it possible for me to go.
And if I hadn't, there's no way I'd be standing here today.
When I became President, I had no greater priority than
giving every hard-working student the same chance that
was given to me. That means our children must start school
ready to learn and graduate college ready to succeed. So
we have dramatically expanded and improved the quality of
early-childhood education, preschool, and after-school.
9
We have insisted on higher standards, greater
accountability, and extra help so children can reach those
higher standards. We have invested in public school
choice, in attracting talented new teachers, in reducing class
sizes, in connecting all our schools to the Internet.
And, from the very start, we have worked to open the
doors of college to every American. In fact, we have more
than doubled college aid - something that was long
overdue.
In 1993, we created the Direct Student Loan program
that has taken out the middle man and saved America's
students $9 billion in just seven years.
10
Students can now borrow more easily and pay back their
loans as a percentage of their income - reducing the
chances that students will drop out of school for fear they
cannot repay their loans increasing the chances they'll
take the proud strides across the stage you're about to take.
More than 1,200 colleges now participate in the Direct
Loan Program. And even at schools that don't, students
benefit from the increased competition the program has
sparked in the traditional loan market - bringing down fees
and interest rates for all students.
In just seven years, we expanded Pell grants by more
than 40 percent. We expanded the federal work-study
program, to help a million students a year work their way
through school.
11
We created AmeriCorps, which has given 150,000 young
people the chance to earn money for college while they
serve their communities. We gave families across America
the ability to put their savings in new Education IRAs, to
help them save for college, tax-free.
We created the $1,500 HOPE Scholarship tax credit, to
make the first two years of college as universal as high
school. To help families afford the last two years of college
- as well as graduate school and job training - we also
launched a Lifetime Learning tax cut, providing a 20%
credit against tuition and fees. This year alone, we expect
that well over 10 million Americans will use HOPE
Scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits to open the
doors of college, to open new doors of opportunity.
12
In the past seven years, America has achieved the
greatest expansion of college opportunity since the G.I.
Bill, 50 years ago. Today, I am releasing a new report that
makes this clear. As student aid has increased, so has
college attendance, to record levels. Fully two-thirds of
high-school graduates go straight to college, an all-time
high. And for the first time in history, a majority of young
African-Americans is enrolling in higher education.
The report also documents the growing value of a
college education. The earnings gap between those who
have a bachelor's degree and those who don't is growing
dramatically. Over the course of a career, a person with a
bachelor's degree will earn $600,000 more, on average,
than a person with only a high school degree.
13
The return on a college investment is now nearly double the
stock market's historical rate of return.
This report is full of good news. But it also shows that
we can do better. Even with the new forms of financial aid
- and even though the rise in tuition costs has slowed over
the past few years - the majority of families are still feeling
stretched. Over the past twenty years, the cost of college
has quadrupled. I know many parents here today have
taken second mortgages, or second jobs, to pay those tuition
bills.
14
So to build on the success of our HOPE scholarships
and Lifetime Learning tax credits, I have proposed a
landmark $30 billion college opportunity tax cut that will
benefit millions of middle-class families. It will allow them
to deduct up to $10,000 in tuition costs, providing as much
as $2,800 in much-needed tax relief. We need Congress to
pass this tax cut into law. Because in the Information Age,
investing in intellectual capital is every bit as important as
investing in industrial capital.
There is something else we must do this year. We
must make sure all students, especially those from our
hardest-pressed families, can find the college doors we've
worked so hard to open.
15
In many communities - even here in this beautiful college
town - there are young people who grow up unaware of
how important, and how possible, college really is. Maybe
no one's pushing them to take algebra and other classes
important for college. Maybe they don't know how to
secure scholarships, grants, and loans. I have asked
Congress to work with us to expand our GEAR UP and
TRIO initiatives, so that we can reach out to these students
- as early as 6ᵗʰ grade - and instill in them high hopes that
they can go to college and the high expectations that they
will succeed when they get there.
16
If we do these things - and if Congress works with me
to pass a budget that invests more in our public schools and
demands more from them - we can provide students with
the support they need; families with the relief they need;
our economy with the skilled workforce we need; and our
nation with active, informed citizens. Now, some people
question whether we can reach all these goals. They are the
same people who said, seven years ago, that we couldn't
boost investment in education while balancing our budget.
In fact, we've done both - restoring fiscal discipline while
doubling our investment in education and training. So I
believe we can get it done - and Congress should get it
done this year.
17
A hundred years from now, the Carleton Class of 2100
will sit in these seats, will look up at this podium, and
perhaps a future President will reflect on this remarkable
age. Let us hope that he - or she - can say that the first
steps we took in this century were the right steps that we
made the most of this moment of promise.
To the first graduating class of the 21st century, I offer
my congratulations - for challenges conquered, for projects
completed, for goals reached and even surpassed. You and
your parents should be very proud - and very confident as
you venture forth from this campus.
18
But to make the very most of the opportunities you
have been given, you must rise to your responsibility: As
the years pass, your work will be judged, and you will
judge yourselves, on the lives you touch - on the ways,
large and small, that you give back. If you embrace this
responsibility, if you turn your opportunities into
opportunities for others, then you will not only be leaders in
the arts and sciences, in business and industry. You will be
the leaders of our nation. Good luck. May "Carleton
always be with you." And may God bless you all.
# # #
19
Draft 06/08/00 10:45pm
Shesol/ Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS ON EXPANDING COLLEGE OPPORTUNITY
CARLETON COLLEGE
NORTHFIELD, MN
June 10, 2000
Thank you, President Lewis. And congratulations to the Class of 2000. This is a very proud
day for you, your parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. I am grateful that you have given me
an opportunity to share it with you.
Acknowledge: Carleton trustees and faculty members, including your long-time colleague
Sen. Paul Wellstone; student speakers Faisal Mohyuddin [FIE-zil moe-ha-DEEN], Sachin Patel
[SATCH-in pa-TEL], and Katie Beebe [BEE-bee]; honorary degree recipients Bruno Nettl and
George Dixon; Lt. Gov. Mae Schunk; Mayor Bill Rossman and the community of Northfield.
college
For years, I've been hearing what a wonderful place this is from friends who had the roommate
pleasure of studying here - people like my advisor Tom Freedman, Class of '85, and his classmate,
John Harris of The Washington Post. They tell me that from the moment you set foot on this
beautiful campus, "you are a part of Carleton and Carleton is a part of you." [unofficial motto of the
school] They tell me Carleton is my kind of school: A school that celebrates diversity, that nurtures
creativity, that fosters a lifelong commitment to community service. A school whose students and
faculty exemplify "excellence without elitism." A school where the President of the college gets to
sing like Elvis.
I want to thank the graduates for such a generous welcome for my final commencement
speech as President. I am proud to be the first sitting President to come to Carleton. And I'm proud
to be - and I believe history will record this - the first sitting President to have his portrait painted
on the water tower. Now, I heard it wasn't the greatest likeness in the world, but I don't think that
was any reason to paint it over.
And you know, I don't usually accept gifts, but a group of students absolutely insisted that I
take home a souvenir of my stay. I think it's just great. What do you think?
[Reveal "Bust of Schiller. "]
I appreciate it. I really do. But I don't think this looks like me, either.
You are graduating at a remarkable moment in history. The year 2000 will be fixed in
memory not only because the world has turned a very important calendar page, but because
America has entered an era of unparalleled promise. We begin the 21st century with more than 22
million new jobs. We have the lowest unemployment rates in more than 30 years; the lowest
poverty rates in 20 years; the lowest African American and Hispanic unemployment rates on record;
and the longest period of economic growth in our entire history.
Never before has America experienced this kind of sustained prosperity. And never before
has any nation had the opportunity and responsibility we now have to shape a world that is more
1
peaceful, secure, and free. I think it is worth noting that today is the one-year anniversary of the
day when Serbian troops - accepting NATO's terms - began their withdrawal from Kosovo.
Today, troops from 39 nations - including 5,500 Americans - are working to bring Kosovo back to
life. The sound of gunfire has been replaced by the sound of jackhammers - as roads, homes, and
schools are rebuilt. Almost a million refugees have returned home. And this fall, the people of
Kosovo will go to the polls to vote in the first democratic elections in Kosovo's history. America's
men and women in uniform not only won the war. Today, they are helping secure the peace.
Here at home, the world you're about to enter is changing dramatically. The American
pulse is quickening. The flow of ideas and information is picking up. Technologies that scarcely
existed when you first entered school are now driving the new, and truly global, economy. It is a
powerful, sweeping transformation - the scope of which we have only begun to comprehend.
This changing world belongs to you. Not just because you're young, but because your
education at Carleton has endowed you with exactly the right skills to succeed: the curiosity to
embrace new ideas, the creativity to imagine a more-perfect world, and the confidence to build it,
step by step.
Your college years have been a blessing. Of course, for many Americans, an education and
an experience like yours remain little more than a dream. And that is what I am here to talk about
today - our obligation, at this moment of great promise, to give all students the chance to fulfill
their God-given potential to give all Americans the ability to thrive in this dynamic new
economy to fulfill, at long last, our Founders' vision of opportunity for all.
Two centuries ago, at our nation's founding, opportunity meant, most of all, the freedom to
carve a farm and an existence out of the forest frontier. In the Industrial Age, the Progressives saw
that it meant something different. It meant a high school education, a vocational education, a new
emphasis on science and reason. Today, we know that it means something more. It means higher
education or lifelong learning for every American. It means mastering new tools and technologies.
It means the ability to think broadly, adjust quickly, to seize the potential of this Information Age.
Today, a college education is not a luxury; it is a necessity. In the coming years, the number
of new jobs requiring a bachelor's degree will grow more than twice as fast as jobs that don't. The
three fastest growing occupations require at least a bachelor's degree and pay much better than
average. America can't afford to leave any students behind simply because they can't afford to pay
for college.
I came from a family in which no one had ever attended college. And yet, from the time I
was a child, my mother, my grandmother, and my stepfather told me I was going to college. And I
believed them. I remember the day I was accepted to Georgetown. The school gave me a $500
scholarship. Simply put, it made it possible for me to go. And if I hadn't, there's no way I'd be
standing here today.
When I became President, I had no greater priority than giving every hard-working student
the same chance that was given to me. That means our children must start school ready to learn and
graduate ready to succeed. So we have dramatically expanded and improved the quality of early-
childhood education, preschool, and after-school. We have insisted on higher standards, greater
accountability, and extra help so children can reach those higher standards. We have invested in
2
public school choice, in attracting talented new teachers, in reducing class sizes, in connecting all
our schools to the Internet.
And, from the very start, we have worked to open the doors of college to every American.
In fact, we have more than doubled college aid - something that was long overdue. I know that
many of you have benefited from that assistance; President Lewis tells me that more than 60% half of
you have reached this day due not only to your parents' and your own hard work but to
scholarships, grants, and loans.
In just seven years, we expanded Pell grants by more than 40 percent. We rewrote the
student loan program to increase competition, to give aid directly to students, to make it cheaper to
get the aid you need. And we' re now enabling graduates to pay off their loans as a percentage of
their income - because no students should ever have to drop out of school for fear that they can't
repay their loans.
We expanded the federal work-study program, to help a million students a year work their
way through school. We created AmeriCorps, which has given 150,000 young people the chance to
earn money for college while they serve their communities. We gave families across America the
ability to put their savings in new Education IRAs, to help them save for college, tax-free.
We created the $1,500 HOPE Scholarship tax credit, to make the 13th and 14th years of
education as universal as the first twelve. We launched a Lifetime Learning tax credit, which helps
families pay for the last two years of college, for graduate school, or for job training. In 1998 alone,
nearly 5 million Americans used these tax credits to open the doors of college, to open new doors of
opportunity.
Across America, more and more students are taking advantage of these new opportunities.
Today, I am releasing a new report that makes this clear. The study shows that in the past seven
years, America has achieved the greatest expansion of college opportunity since the G.I. Bill, 50
years ago. As student aid has increased, so has college attendance, to record levels. Fully two-
thirds of high-school graduates go straight to college, an all-time high. And for the first time in
history, a majority of young African-Americans are enrolling in higher education. America is on
the right track.
The report also documents the growing value of a college education. The earnings gap
between those who have a bachelor's degree and those who don't is growing dramatically. Over the
course of a career, a person with a bachelor's degree will earn $600,000 more, on average, than than
a person with only a high school degree. The return on a college investment is nearly double the
stock market's historical rate of return.
This report is full of good news. But it also shows that we can do better. Even with the new
forms of financial aid and even though the rise in tuition costs have slowed over the past few
years - the vast majority of families are still feeling stretched. After all, over the past twenty years,
the cost of college has quadrupled. I know many parents here today have taken second mortgages,
or second jobs, to pay those tuition bills.
So to build on the success of our HOPE scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits, I
have proposed a landmark $30 billion college opportunity tax cut that will benefit millions of
middle-class families. It will allow them to deduct up to $10,000 in tuition costs, providing as
3
much as $2,800 in much-needed tax relief. This will make a big difference for many of the families
here today who have younger children. We need Congress to act - and to act this year - to pass this
tax cut into law.
It's every bit als crucial for ourecon.
only
But I didn't create HOPE Scholarships, or propose College Opportunity tax cuts, simply
because they are crucial for our families. A. In the Information Age, we know that investing in
intellectual capital is just as important as investing in industrial capital. We give tax relief today to
businesses that invest in new plants and equipment. We ought to give tax relief to families that
invest in their children's potential.
This is the right kind of tax cut for America - it is, like the others I have proposed, a targeted
tax cut. It preserves our fiscal discipline today and lays the groundwork for future growth. Last
year, I had to veto a big, across-the-board tax cut that did neither of these things. In fact, the tax
plan I vetoed would have squeezed out our investments in education, undermined our progress, and
risked our prosperity. This year, I hope the Congress will work with me to pass the right kind of tax
cuts - right for our families and right for our future. And, at the same time, I'm going to insist that
Congress send me a budget that invests more in our schools, while demanding more of them; that
gives more of our young people a chance to serve with AmeriCorps; that reduces class size and
gives all our students safe and modern schools.
There are two other things we must do this year. First, as we help more Americans go to
college, we must also help more Americans stay in college. Today, nearly 40 percent of all college
students drop out before they earn a degree. I have called on Congress to fund new College
Completion Challenge Grants. These grants would provide pre-freshman summer programs and
support services for students who might never make it to graduation day - who might never put on
the cap and gown to take those proud strides across the stage, as you're about to do.
Second, we must make sure all students, especially those from our hardest-pressed families,
can find the college doors we've worked so hard to open. In many communities - even here in this
beautiful college town - there are young people who grow up not knowing how important, and how
possible, college really is. Maybe no one's pushing them to take algebra and other classes
important for college. Maybe they don't know how to secure scholarships, grants, and loans. That
is why I have asked Congress to work with us to expand our GEAR UP and TRIO initiatives, so
that we can reach out to these students - as early as 6ᵗʰ grade - and instill in them high hopes that
they can go to college and the high expectations that they will succeed.
Taken together, these steps will provide students with the support they need; families with
the college relief they need; our economy with the skilled workforce we need; and our nation with
active, informed citizens. Now, some people question whether we can achieve all these goals.
They are the same people who said, seven years ago, that we couldn't boost investment in education
while balancing our budget. In fact, we've done both - restoring fiscal discipline while doubling
our investment in education and training. So I believe we can get it done - and Congress should get
it, done this year.
A hundred years from now, the Carleton Class of 2100 will sit in these seats, will look up at
this podium, and perhaps a future President will reflect back on this remarkable age. Let us hope
that he - or she - can say that the first steps we took in this century were the right steps that we
made the most of this moment of promise.
4
To the first graduating class of the 21st century, I offer my congratulations - for challenges
conquered, for projects completed, for goals reached and even surpassed. You and your parents
should be very proud - and very confident as you venture forth from this campus.
But to make the very most of the opportunities you have been given, you must rise to your
responsibility - - the responsibility of empowering others. As the years pass, your work will be
judged, and you will judge yourselves, on the lives you touch - on the ways, large and small, that
you give back. If you embrace this responsibility, if you turn your opportunities into opportunities
for others, then you will not only be leaders in the arts and sciences, in business and industry. You
will be the leaders of our nation. Good luck. May "Carleton always be with you." And may God
bless you all.
###
5
Draft 06/09/00 6:40pm
Shesol/ Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS ON EXPANDING COLLEGE OPPORTUNITY
CARLETON COLLEGE
NORTHFIELD, MN
June 10, 2000
Thank you, President Lewis. And congratulations to the Class of 2000. This is a very proud
day for you, your parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. I am grateful that you have given me
an opportunity to share it with you.
Acknowledge: Carleton trustees and faculty members, including your long-time colleague
Sen. Paul Wellstone; student speakers Faisal Mohyuddin [FASS-il moe-ya-DEEN], Sachin Patel [sa-
CHEEN pah-TELL], and Katie Beebe [BEE-bee]; honorary degree recipients Bruno Nettl and
George Dixon; Lt. Gov. Mae Schunk; Mayor Bill Rossman and the community of Northfield.
For years, I've been hearing what a wonderful place this is from those who had the pleasure
of studying here - people like my advisor Tom Freedman, Class of '85, and his college roommate,
John Harris of The Washington Post. They tell me that from the moment you set foot on this
beautiful campus, "you are a part of Carleton and Carleton is a part of you." [unofficial motto of the
school] They tell me Carleton is my kind of school: A school that celebrates diversity that nurtures
creativity, that fosters a lifelong commitment to community service. A school whose students and
faculty exemplify "excellence without elitism." A school where the President of the college gets to
sing like Elvis.
I want to thank the graduates for such a generous welcome. I am proud to be the first sitting
President to come to Carleton. And I'm proud to be the first sitting President to have his portrait
painted on the water tower. Now, I heard it wasn't the greatest likeness in the world, but I don't
think that was any reason to paint it over.
And you know, I don't usually accept gifts, but a group of students absolutely insisted that I
take home a souvenir of my stay. I think it's just great. What do you think?
[Reveal "Bust of Schiller. "]
I appreciate it. I really do. But I don't think this looks like me, either.
You are graduating at a remarkable moment in history. The year 2000 will be fixed in
memory not only because the world has turned a very important calendar page, but because
America has entered an era of unparalleled promise. We begin the 21st century with more than 22
million new jobs. We have the lowest unemployment rates in more than 30 years; the lowest
poverty rates in 20 years; the lowest African American and Hispanic unemployment rates on record;
and the longest period of economic growth in our entire history.
Never before has America experienced this kind of sustained prosperity. And never before
has any nation had the opportunity and responsibility we now have to shape a world that is more
peaceful, secure) and free. I think it is worth noting that today is the one-year anniversary of the
1
day when Serbian troops - accepting NATO's terms - began their withdrawal from Kosovo.
Today, troops from 39 nations - including 5,500 Americans - are working to bring Kosovo back to
life. The sound of gunfire has been replaced by the sound of jackhammers as roads, homes, and
schools are rebuilt. Almost a million refugees have returned home. And this fall, the people of
Kosovo will go to the polls to vote in the first democratic elections in Kosovo's history. America's
men and women in uniform not only won the war. Today, they are helping secure the peace.
Here at home, the world you're about to enter is changing dramatically. The American
pulse is quickening. The flow of ideas and information is picking up. Technologies that scarcely
existed when you first entered school are now driving the new, and truly global, economy. It is a
powerful, sweeping transformation - the scope of which we have only begun to comprehend.
This changing world belongs to you. Not just because you're young, but because your
education at Carleton has endowed you with exactly the right skills to succeed: the curiosity to
embrace new ideas, the creativity to imagine a more-perfect world, and the confidence to build it,
step by step.
Your college years have been a blessing. Of course, for many Americans, an education and
an experience like yours remain little more than a dream. And that is what I am here to talk about
today - our obligation, at this moment of great promise, to give all students the chance to fulfill
their God-given potential to give all Americans the ability to thrive in this dynamic new
economy to fulfill, at long last, our Founders' vision of opportunity for all.
Two centuries ago, at our nation's founding, opportunity meant, most of all, the freedom to
carve a farm and an existence out of the forest frontier. In the Industrial Age, the Progressives saw
that it meant something different. It meant a high school education, a vocational education, a new
emphasis on science and reason. Today, we know that it means something more. It means higher
education or lifelong learning for every American. It means mastering new tools and technologies.
It means the ability to think broadly, adjust quickly, to seize the potential of this Information Age.
Today, a college education is not a luxury; it is a necessity. In the coming years, the number
of new jobs requiring a bachelor's degree will grow more than twice as fast as jobs that don't. The
three fastest growing occupations require at least a bachelor's degree and pay much better than
average. America can't afford to leave any students behind simply because they can't afford to pay
for college.
I came from a family in which no one had ever attended college. And yet, from the time I
was a child, my mother, my grandmother, and my stepfather told me I was going to college. And I
believed them. I remember the day I was accepted to Georgetown. The school gave me a $500
scholarship. Simply put, it made it possible for me to go. And if I hadn't, there's no way I'd be
standing here today.
When I became President, I had no greater priority than giving every hard-working student
the same chance that was given to me. That means our children must start school ready to learn and
graduate ready to succeed. So we have dramatically expanded and improved the quality of early-
childhood education, preschool, and after-school. We have insisted on higher standards, greater
accountability, and extra help so children can reach those higher standards. We have invested in
public school choice, in attracting talented new teachers, in reducing class sizes, in connecting all
our schools to the Internet.
2
And, from the very start, we have worked to open the doors of college to every American.
In fact, we have more than doubled college aid - something that was long overdue. I know that a
large majority of you have benefited from scholarships, grants, and loans.
In 1993, we created the Direct Student Loan program that has taken the middle man out and
saved America's students $9 billion in just the past seven years. Students can now borrow more
easily and pay back their loans as a percentage of their income - reducing the chances that students
will drop out of school for fear they cannot repay their loans increasing the chances they'll make
it to graduation day and take the proud strides across the stage you're about to take. More than
1,200 colleges now participate in the Direct Loan Program. And even at schools that don't, students
benefit from the increased competition the program has sparked in the traditional loan market -
bringing down fees and interest rates for all students.
In just seven years, we expanded Pell grants by more than 40 percent. We expanded the
federal work-study program, to help a million students a year work their way through school. We
created AmeriCorps, which has given 150,000 young people the chance to earn money for college
while they serve their communities. We gave families across America the ability to put their
savings in new Education IRAs, to help them save for college, tax-free.
We created the $1,500 HOPE Scholarship tax credit, to make the first two years of college
as universal as high school. To help families afford the last two years of college - as well as
graduate school and job training - we also launched a Lifetime Learning tax cut, providing a 20%
credit against tuition and fees. This year alone, we expect that well over 10 million Americans will
use HOPE Scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits to open the doors of college, to open new
doors of opportunity.
Across America, more and more students are taking advantage of these new opportunities.
Today, I am releasing a new report that makes this clear. The study shows that in the past seven
years, America has achieved the greatest expansion of college opportunity since the G.I. Bill, 50
years ago. As student aid has increased, so has college attendance, to record levels. Fully two-
thirds of high-school graduates go straight to college, an all-time high. And for the first time in
history, a majority of young African-Americans is enrolling in higher education. America is on the
right track.
2.
The report also documents the growing value of a college education. The earnings gap
between those who have a bachelor's degree and those who don't is growing dramatically. Over the
course of a career, a person with a bachelor's degree will earn $600,000 more, on average, than a
person with only a high school degree. The return on a college investment is nearly double the
stock market's historical rate of return.
now ?
This report is full of good news. But it also shows that we can do better. Even with the new
forms of financial aid - and even though the rise in tuition costs have slowed over the past few
years - the vast majority of families are still feeling stretched. After all, over the past twenty years,
the cost of college has quadrupled. I know many parents here today have taken second mortgages,
or second jobs, to pay those tuition bills.
So to build on the success of our HOPE scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits, I
have proposed a landmark $30 billion college opportunity tax cut that will benefit millions of
3
middle-class families. It will allow them to deduct up to $10,000 in tuition costs, providing as
much as $2,800 in much-needed tax relief. This will make a big difference for many of the families
here today who have younger children. We need Congress to pass this tax cut into law. Because in
the Information Age, investing in intellectual capital is every bit as important as investing in
industrial capital.
There is something else we must do this year. We must make sure all students, especially
those from our hardest-pressed families, can find the college doors we've worked so hard to open.
In many communities - even here in this beautiful college town - there are young people who grow
up not knowing how important, and how possible, college really is. Maybe no one's pushing them
to take algebra and other classes important for college. Maybe they don't know how to secure
scholarships, grants, and loans. That is why have asked Congress to work with us to expand our
GEAR UP and TRIO initiatives, so that we can reach out to these students - as early as 6ᵗʰ grade -
and instill in them high hopes that they can go to college and the high expectations that they will they
succeed when they ger there.
If we do these things - and if Congress works with me to pass a budget that invests more in
our schools and demands more from them - we can provide students with the support they need;
families with the relief they need; our economy with the skilled workforce we need; and our nation
with active, informed citizens. Now, some people question whether we can reach all these goals.
They are the same people who said, seven years ago, that we couldn't boost investment in education
while balancing our budget. In fact, we've done both - restoring fiscal discipline while doubling
our investment in education and training. So I believe we can get it done- - and Congress should get
it done this year.
A hundred years from now, the Carleton Class of 2100 will sit in these seats, will look up at
this podium, and perhaps a future President will reflect back on this remarkable age. Let us hope
that he - or she - can say that the first steps we took in this century were the right steps that we
made the most of this moment of promise.
To the first graduating class of the 21st century, I offer my congratulations for challenges
conquered, for projects completed, for goals reached and even surpassed. You and your parents
should be very proud - and very confident as you venture forth from this campus.
But to make the very most of the opportunities you have been given, you must rise to your
responsibility, the responsibility of empowering others. As the years pass, your work will be
judged, and you will judge yourselves, on the lives you touch - on the ways, large and small, that
you give back. If you embrace this responsibility, if you turn your opportunities into opportunities
for others, then you will not only be leaders in the arts and sciences, in business and industry. You
will be the leaders of our nation. Good luck. May "Carleton always be with you." And may God
bless you all.
###
4
In 1993, fed govt gave
Draft 06/08/00 10:45pm
$ 25b grants, loans, tx incentives
Shesol/ Weiss
foday, # is twice that mucle
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS ON EXPANDING COLLEGE OPPORTUNITY
CARLETON COLLEGE
NORTHFIELD, MN
June 10, 2000
Thank you, President Lewis. And congratulations to the Class of 2000. This is a very proud
day for you, your parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. I am grateful that you have given me
an opportunity to share it with you.
Acknowledge: Carleton trustees and faculty members, including your long-time colleague
Sen. Paul Wellstone; student speakers Faisal Mohyuddin [FIE-zil moe-ha-DEEN], Sachin Patel
[SATCH-in pa-TEL], and Katie Beebe [BEE-bee]; honorary degree recipients Bruno Nettl and
George Dixon; Lt. Gov. Mae Schunk; Mayor Bill Rossman and the community of Northfield.
For years, I've been hearing what a wonderful place this is from friends who had the
pleasure of studying here - people like my advisor Tom Freedman, Class of '85, and his classmate,
John Harris of The Washington Post. They tell me that from the moment you set foot on this
beautiful campus, "you are a part of Carleton and Carleton is a part of you." [unofficial motto of the
school] They tell me Carleton is my kind of school: A school that celebrates diversity, that nurtures
creativity, that fosters a lifelong commitment to community service.
1
A school whose students and faculty exemplify "excellence without elitism." A school where the
President of the college gets to sing like Elvis.
I want to thank the graduates for such a generous welcome for my final commencement
speech as President. I am proud to be the first sitting President to come to Carleton. And I'm proud
to be - and I believe history will record this - the first sitting President to have his portrait painted
on the water tower. Now, I heard it wasn't the greatest likeness in the world, but I don't think that
was any reason to paint it over.
And you know, I don't usually accept gifts, but a group of students absolutely insisted that I
take home a souvenir of my stay. I think it's just great. What do you think?
[Reveal "Bust of Schiller. "]
I appreciate it. I really do. But I don't think this looks like me, either.
You are graduating at a remarkable moment in history. The year 2000 will be fixed in
memory not only because the world has turned a very important calendar page, but because
America has entered an era of unparalleled promise. We begin the 21st century with more than 22
million new jobs. We have the lowest unemployment rates in more than 30 years; the lowest
poverty rates in 20 years; the lowest African American and Hispanic unemployment rates on record;
and the longest period of economic growth in our entire history.
2
Never before has America experienced this kind of sustained prosperity. And never before
has any nation had the opportunity and responsibility we now have to shape a world that is more
peaceful, secure, and free. I think it is worth noting that today is the one-year anniversary of the
day when Serbian troops - accepting NATO's terms - began their withdrawal from Kosovo.
Today, troops from 39 nations - including 5,500 Americans - are working to bring Kosovo back to
life. The sound of gunfire has been replaced by the sound of jackhammers - as roads, homes, and
schools are rebuilt. Almost a million refugees have returned home. And this fall, the people of
Kosovo will go to the polls to vote in the first democratic elections in Kosovo's history. America's
men and women in uniform not only won the war. Today, they are helping secure the peace.
Here at home, the world you're about to enter is changing dramatically. The American
pulse is quickening. The flow of ideas and information is picking up. Technologies that scarcely
existed when you first entered school are now driving the new, and truly global, economy. It is a
powerful, sweeping transformation - the scope of which we have only begun to comprehend.
This changing world belongs to you. Not just because you're young, but because your
education at Carleton has endowed you with exactly the right skills to succeed: the curiosity to
embrace new ideas, the creativity to imagine a more-perfect world, and the confidence to build it,
step by step.
Your college years have been a blessing. Of course, for many Americans, an education and
an experience like yours remain little more than a dream. And that is what I am here to talk about
today - our obligation, at this moment of great promise, to give all students the chance to fulfill
their God-given potential to give all Americans the ability to thrive in this dynamic new
economy to fulfill, at long last, our Founders' vision of opportunity for all.
3
Two centuries ago, at our nation's founding, opportunity meant, most of all, the freedom to
carve a farm and an existence out of the forest frontier. In the Industrial Age, the Progressives saw
that it meant something different. It meant a high school education, a vocational education, a new
emphasis on science and reason. Today, we know that it means something more. It means higher
education or lifelong learning for every American. It means mastering new tools and technologies.
It means the ability to think broadly, adjust quickly, to seize the potential of this Information Age.
Today, a college education is not a luxury; it is a necessity. In the coming years, the number
of new jobs requiring a bachelor's degree will grow more than twice as fast as jobs that don't. The
three fastest growing occupations require at least a bachelor's degree and pay much better than
average. America can't afford to leave any students behind simply because they can't afford to pay
for college.
I came from a family in which no one had ever attended college. And yet, from the time I
was a child, my mother, my grandmother, and my stepfather told me I was going to college. And I
believed them. I remember the day I was accepted to Georgetown. The school gave me a $500
scholarship. Simply put, it made it possible for me to go. And if I hadn't, there's no way I'd be
standing here today.
When I became President, I had no greater priority than giving every hard-working student
the same chance that was given to me. That means our children must start school ready to learn and
graduate ready to succeed. So we have dramatically expanded and improved the quality of early-
childhood education, preschool, and after-school. We have insisted on higher standards, greater
accountability, and extra help so children can reach those higher standards.
4
We have invested in public school choice, in attracting talented new teachers, in reducing class
sizes, in connecting all our schools to the Internet.
And, from the very start, we have worked to open the doors of college to every American.
In fact, we have more than doubled college aid - something that was long overdue. I know that
three
many of you have benefited from that assistance; [ resident Lewis tells me that more than half Jose
?
you have reached this day due not only to your parents' and your own hard work but to
scholarships, grants, and loans.
]
In just seven years, we expanded Pell grants by more than 40 percent. We rewrote the
student loan program to increase competition, to give aid directly to students, to make it cheaper to
get the aid you need. And we're now enabling graduates to pay off their loans as a percentage of
their income - because no students should ever have to drop out of school for fear that they can't
repay their loans.
We expanded the federal work-study program, to help a million students a year work their
way through school. We created AmeriCorps, which has given 150,000 young people the chance to
earn money for college while they serve their communities. We gave families across America the
ability to put their savings in new Education IRAs, to help them save for college, tax-free.
We created the $1,500 HOPE Scholarship tax credit, to make the 13th and 14th years of
education as universal as the first twelve. We launched a Lifetime Learning tax credit, which helps
families pay for the last two years of college, for graduate school, or for job training. In 1998 alone,
nearly 5 million Americans used these tax credits to open the doors of college, to open new doors of
opportunity.
5
Across America, more and more students are taking advantage of these new opportunities.
Today, I am releasing a new report that makes this clear. The study shows that in the past seven
years, America has achieved the greatest expansion of college opportunity since the G.I. Bill, 50
years ago. As student aid has increased, so has college attendance, to record levels. Fully two-
thirds of high-school graduates go straight to college, an all-time high. And for the first time in
history, a majority of young African-Americans are enrolling in higher education. America is on
the right track.
The report also documents the growing value of a college education. The earnings gap
between those who have a bachelor's degree and those who don't is growing dramatically. Over the
course of a career, a person with a bachelor's degree will earn $600,000 more, on average, than than
a person with only a high school degree. The return on a college investment is nearly double the
stock market's historical rate of return.
Too many are
starting but not
completing. + we
need to pass Collo.
This report is full of good news. But it also shows that we can do better. Even with the new Comp.
X
Grants
forms of financial aid - and even though the rise in tuition costs have slowed over the past few
to
address
years - the vast majority of families are still feeling stretched. After all, over the past twenty years, that.
the cost of college has quadrupled. I know many parents here today have taken second mortgages,
or second jobs, to pay those tuition bills.
So to build on the success of our HOPE scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits, I
have proposed a landmark $30 billion college opportunity tax cut that will benefit millions of
middle-class families. It will allow them to deduct up to $10,000 in tuition costs, providing as
much as $2,800 in much-needed tax relief.
6
This will make a big difference for many of the families here today who have younger children. We
need Congress to act - and to act this year - to pass this tax cut into law.
But I didn't create HOPE Scholarships, or propose College Opportunity tax cuts, simply
because they are crucial for our families. In the Information Age, we know that investing in
intellectual capital is just as important as investing in industrial capital. We give tax relief today to
businesses that invest in new plants and equipment. We ought to give tax relief to families that
invest in their children's potential.
This is the right kind of tax cut for America - it is, like the others I have proposed, a targeted
tax cut. It preserves our fiscal discipline today and lays the groundwork for future growth. Last
year, I had to veto a big, across the board tax cut that did neither of these things. In fact, the tax
plan I vetoed would have squeezed out our investments in education, undermined our progress, and
risked our prosperity This year, I hope the Congress will work with me to pass the right kind of tax
cuts - right for our families and right for our future. And, at the same time, I'm going to insist that
Congress send me a budget that invests more in our schools, while demanding more of them; that
gives more of our young people a chance to serve with AmeriCorps; that reduces class size and
gives all our students safe and modern schools.
See pren pg
There are two other things we must do this year. First, as we help more Americans go to
college, we must also help more Americans stay in college. Today, nearly 40 percent of all college
students drop out before they earn a degree.
I
have called on Congress to fund new College
Completion Challenge Grants: These grants would provide pre-freshman summer programs and
support services for students who might never make it to graduation day - who might never put on
the cap and gown to take those proud strides across the stage, as you about to do.
7
Second, we must make sure all students, especially those from our hardest-pressed families,
can find the college doors we've worked so hard to open. In many communities - even here in this
beautiful college town - there are young people who grow up not knowing how important, and how
possible, college really is. Maybe no one's pushing them to take algebra and other classes
important for college. Maybe they don't know how to secure scholarships, grants, and loans. That
is why I have asked Congress to work with us to expand our GEAR UP and TRIO initiatives, so
that we can reach out to these students - as early as 6ᵗʰ grade - and instill in them high hopes that
they can go to college and the high expectations that they will succeed.
Taken together, these steps will provide students with the support they need; families with
the college relief they need; our economy with the skilled workforce we need; and our nation with
active, informed citizens. Now, some people question whether we can achieve all these goals.
They are the same people who said, seven years ago, that we couldn't boost investment in education
while balancing our budget. In fact, we've done both - restoring fiscal discipline while doubling
our investment in education and training. So I believe we can get it done - and Congress should get
it done this year.
A hundred years from now, the Carleton Class of 2100 will sit in these seats, will look up at
this podium, and perhaps a future President will reflect back on this remarkable age. Let us hope
that he - or she - can say that the first steps we took in this century were the right steps that we
made the most of this moment of promise.
To the first graduating class of the 21ˢᵗ century, I offer my congratulations - for challenges
conquered, for projects completed, for goals reached and even surpassed. You and your parents
should be very proud - and very confident as you venture forth from this campus.
8
But to make the very most of the opportunities you have been given, you must rise to your
responsibility - the responsibility of empowering others. As the years pass, your work will be
judged, and you will judge yourselves, on the lives you touch - on the ways, large and small, that
you give back. If you embrace this responsibility, if you turn your opportunities into opportunities
for others, then you will not only be leaders in the arts and sciences, in business and industry. You
will be the leaders of our nation. Good luck. May "Carleton always be with you." And may God
bless you all.
###
9
Draft 6/7/00 8:00pm
Shesol/ Weiss
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS ON EXPANDING COLLEGE OPPORTUNITY
CARLETON COLLEGE
NORTHFIELD, MN
June 10, 2000
Thank you, President Lewis. And congratulations to the Class of 2000. This is a very proud
day for you, your parents, siblings, grandparents, and friends. I am grateful that you have given me
an opportunity to share it with you.
Acknowledge: student speakers Faisal Mohyuddin [FOSS-il mow-you-DEEN] and Sachin
Patel [When I was running for President in 1996, my opponent said he was "the most optimistic
man in America." With all due respect to Senator Dole, I think it's clear to everyone here that he
wasn't even close.]
For years, I've been hearing about what a wonderful place this is from friends and staff
members who had the pleasure of studying here for four years - people like Tom Freedman, Class
of 'TK. They tell me that from the moment you step foot on this beautiful campus, "you are a part
of Carleton and Carleton is a part of you." They tell me that Carleton is my kind of school: A
school that celebrates the great value of diversity, fosters a spirit of community service, and nurtures
environmental awareness. A school whose students and faculty exemplify "excellence without
elitism." A school where the President of the college gets to sing like Elvis.
If only they'd let the President of the United States do the same.
I want to thank the graduates for such a generous welcome. You know, don't usually
accept gifts, but a group of students absolutely insisted that I take home a souvenir of my stay. I
think it's just great. What do you think?
[Reveal "Bust of Schiller. "]
I appreciate it. But frankly, I don't think it looks a bit like me.
You are graduating at a remarkable moment in history. Your graduation year, the year
2000, will be fixed in memory not only because the world has turned a very important calendar
page, but because America has entered an era of unparalleled promise. We begin the 21st century
with more than 22 million new jobs; the lowest unemployment rates in more than 30 years; the
lowest poverty rates in 20 years; the lowest African American and Hispanic unemployment rates on
record; and the longest period of economic growth in our entire history.
Needless to say, this is all very good news for you graduates entering the job market. It's
even better news for your parents, who'd like nothing better than to put the Stairmaster in your old
bedroom.
The world you're about to enter, as you know, is changing. The American pulse is
quickening. The flow of information and the pace of innovation are picking up, while the volume
1
of written knowledge now doubles every five years. Technologies that scarcely existed when you
first entered school now accelerate new ideas and drive the new, and truly global, economy. It is a
powerful, sweeping transformation - the scope of which we have only begun to comprehend.
What we do know - what I hope you will recognize - is that this changing world belongs to
you. Not just because you're young, but because your education at Carleton has endowed you with
exactly the right skills to succeed: the ability to think and learn; the curiosity to embrace new ideas;
the creativity to imagine a different world and the confidence to build it, step by step.
Of course, there are many Americans who do not have that chance. And that is what I am
here to talk about today - about our obligation, at this moment of great promise, to give all students
the chance to fulfill their God-given potential to give every American the ability to thrive in this
dynamic new economy and to fulfill, at long last, our Founders' vision of opportunity for all.
Two centuries ago, at our nation's founding, opportunity meant, most of all, the freedom to
carve a farm and an existence out of the forest frontier. Fifty years ago, it meant a high school
education - or even the G.I. Bill - and a job for life. Today, opportunity means something different.
It means mastering the tools and technologies of the new economy. It means having a computer
and knowing how to use it. And more than ever, it means a college education.
In the Information Age, a college education is not a luxury; it is a necessity - for our people,
and for our continued economic growth. In the coming years, the number of new jobs requiring a
bachelor's degree will grow more than twice as fast as jobs that don't. The three fastest growing
occupations - all of them in the field of technology - require at least a bachelor's degree and pay
much higher than the average job does. America can't afford to leave any student behind simply
because he or she can't afford to pay for college.
I was the first person in my family ever to go to college. I had a grandmother who got a
correspondent's course and earned a degree in nursing. She lived in a little town with about 50
people until she was old enough to make a go of it in the biggest city around, which had about 6,000
people in it. But from the time I was a kid, for whatever reason, my mother, my grandmother, and
my stepfather told me I was going to college. And I believed them.
I remember the day I was accepted to college. Georgetown gave me a $500 scholarship.
Simply put, it made it possible for me to go to college. And if I hadn't, there's no way I'd be
standing here today.
So when I became President, seven years ago, there was no greater priority for me than
giving every hard-working student the same chance that was given to me, and the same chance that
was given to you. A lot of people told us it wasn't possible. They didn't think we could double our
investment in education and training; they didn't think we could balance the budget; and they
certainly didn't think we could do both at the same time. But that's exactly what we've done.
We put in place an unprecedented strategy to open the doors of college to every American.
In just seven years, we more than doubled college aid - something that was long overdue. We
expanded Pell grants by more than 50 percent. We rewrote the student loan program to make it
easier and cheaper to get the aid you need. And we're now enabling graduates to pay off their loans
as a percentage of their income. Never again will students have to drop out for fear that they can't
repay their loans.
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We expanded the federal work-study program, to help a million students a year work their
way through college. We created AmeriCorps, which has now given 150,000 young people a
chance to earn money for college as they serve their communities. We gave families across
America the chance to put their savings in new Education IRAs, to help them save for college, tax-
free.
We created the $1,500 HOPE Scholarship Tax Credit, to make the 13th and 14th years of
education as universal as the first twelve. We launched a Lifetime Learning Tax Credit, which
helps families pay for the last two years of college, for graduate school, or for job training. In 1998
alone, nearly 5 million Americans used these tax credits to open the doors of college, to open new
doors of opportunity.
Now, Carleton is one of the very finest colleges in the entire United States. You earned your
places here. And you should be proud - America should be proud - that more than half of you are
here thanks not only to your parents' and your own hard work, but to a work-study position, a
HOPE Scholarship, a Pell grant, or an AmeriCorps award.
[new study: benefits of a college ed. show how it's paying off]
[same study shows that more and more are going to college, but
]
[FLOTUS point on tuition]
[that's why, in SOTU, I proposed college opportunity tax credit]
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