Student Spotlight: Ganesh Sitaraman '08
A visible citizen
April 16, 2007
2L Ganesh Sitaraman
Imagine having the chance to attend college, and then go to work—perhaps helping the homeless, responding to national emergencies or providing international aid—knowing that your service will be rewarded with the complete forgiveness of your student debt.
That's the dream of Ganesh Sitaraman '08, who, along with Professor Elizabeth Warren and Sandy Baum, senior policy analyst for the College Board, has been advocating for the adoption of a national program—called Service Pays—to inspire a new era of public service while ensuring young people's access to a college education.
Inspired by programs like the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, Service Pays would go one step further. "The benefits in those programs are generally inadequate to pay for college," Sitaraman said. "Service Pays strives to be a GI Bill for the 21st century—to address the challenges of today. That means providing greater educational benefits and wider opportunities for service. This plan is tailored to an age of terrorism and globalization, of rising school fees and an aging workforce."
Under the plan, student access to federal loans would increase, and each year of public service performed after graduation would result in the forgiveness of a year's worth of student loans, for up to four years. Students from any economic background would be eligible, and debts would be discharged through ordinary repayment or community service. The service option would let young people address societal problems while avoiding crippling debt.
"A vast majority of young people say they would be more involved in public service after college if there were a program like this. What holds them back is that they can't afford it," said Sitaraman, who came up with the idea for Service Pays when he co-wrote a book in 2003 as a Harvard undergraduate. The book, "Invisible Citizens: Youth Politics After September 11," explored the reasons why young people who showed a high commitment to service were nonetheless turning away from the political process.
"People were declaring that the 9/11 generation … [was] going to take up the mantle of leadership—this was our defining moment," said Sitaraman. "But when the president said, 'Go shopping,' young people were not engaged."
Sitaraman hopes Service Pays can re-engage his peers. "I think we have a bold idea that could help educate the next generation of leaders, create transformative experiences for young people, reinvigorate the idea of public service and address real challenges facing the nation," he said.
Working with Warren and Baum, he has been busy getting the plan in front of Washington lawmakers, hoping it will become legislation. "We've had great feedback from members of Congress, and we're optimistic that someone will pick it up soon," said Sitaraman, who recently helped establish a student group to support the presidential bid of Barack Obama '91.
Noting his own hopes for a political career, Sitaraman—a first-generation American whose parents emigrated from India—calls himself an idealist who sees politics as "the highest form of service—where everyone comes together to determine who we are as individuals and as a nation. Immigrants always aspire to something better. And I think that idea, that the future can be better if we work for it, is something that I've taken to heart."
By Margie Kelley