Webster’s defines stimulate as “to excite as if with a goad to action, as to stimulate one by the hope of reward.” Positive synonyms are - to animate, encourage, and urge. More negative synonyms are - incite, instigate, exasperate and to incense. So which is it? Will the $800 billion dollar stimulus encourage or incense?

A guest commentary in last week’s Chicago Sun-Times written by Rev. Jesse Jackson asks an interesting question - If banks can borrow at a 1% interest rate, why not students? Jackson’s proposal highlights the fact that nearly everyone has their own take on how best to spend the $800 billion stimulus. Most of us in higher education are pleased that the stimulus package will increase Federal Pell Grants spending. But, will this increase in Pell Grants alone provide the resources to eliminate our students’ financial needs?

Most of us employed in higher education believe that a significant investment in education is one way to meet the current and future demands placed on our economy and society. This may be considered self-serving. But, if I can get a 0% loan to buy a car in today’s market, does it make sense to continue to charge students (and parents) interest rates of 5% or more?

Now it’s your turn. Are 1% college loans a good way to make college more affordable? It this the best way to help students and families overcome the deepening recession and rising cost of higher education? Is it an efficient use of taxpayer money? What about students who have borrowed at higher interest rates? What about loan limits? Should limits be reconsidered? I look forward to reading your opinions.

Alexander Pope, an 18th century English poet, wrote in his An Essay on Criticism that “to err is human, to forgive divine.”

In that spirit, Wy Spano, the director of the Master of Advocacy and Political Leadership (MAPL) program at the University of Minnesota Duluth, recently wrote an article (Want to stimulate the economy? Forgive student debt) in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune. Spano suggests that - as part of President Obama’s stimulus package - all federal student loans owed should be paid off in order to make education affordable for everyone. He estimates that this would cost a little under $70 billion - less than 10 percent of the $825 billion bill.

Spano suggests that this forgiveness would make it possible for student debtors to become active consumers. The money that the student debtors would have paid toward their loans would be available to put towards a job loss, a car or to pay off other debts. The basis for his suggestion is that stimulus money is aimed at institutions of higher learning, not at students or tuition levels. He maintains that ultimately, the cost of higher education needs to be dramatically reduced.

What are your thoughts on this idea? Should we forgive all student debt? Is it a good use of funds in the stimulus package? Is it fair to those students that have already paid their loans, students and families that have sacrificed to not go in debt, or for all citizens to pay for the educational costs of others? What would you like to see Congress spend stimulus money on?