Sep 18, 2015 3 min read

Editorial voices from newspapers around the United States as compiled by the Associated Press:

With the presidential candidates beginning to weigh in on the high price of a college education, maybe families will finally get some relief from the crushing debt resulting from seemingly endless tuition hikes.

The problem has gotten worse since the early 1980s, when tuition growth began outpacing median family income, making college less attainable both for the middle class and for families trying to reach that level. As a result, students attempting to achieve the dream of a college education amassed a record $1.2 trillion in debt.

Some analysts say student debt could become more destructive to the U.S. economy than the recession-related mortgage crisis, as debt-ridden graduates put off buying homes and starting families.

Seeking votes among that group, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton introduced a college affordability plan that could cost taxpayers $350 billion over 10 years. Other candidates have offered less detailed proposals to cut college costs. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent running as a Democrat, wants tuition-free public colleges. Republican former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to announce his college affordability plan in a couple of weeks.

But the candidates need to offer more than sweet talk to get votes. They must offer realistic plans that make college more accessible.

Youth in so many ways are vulnerable. They struggle to belong, deal with peer pressure, lack judgment, encounter numerous academic and social stresses.

Now add to all of that being part of a refugee community that faces yet another series of challenges, including cultural adaption, economic barriers and striving for acceptance.

In the Minneapolis Somali community, all of those pressures on youth are a perfect storm for terrorist recruiters. About 22 men have left the state since 2007 to join al-Shabab in Somalia, and another dozen people left in recent years to join jihadist groups in Syria, according to the Associated Press.

To combat the terror recruiting, a federal program was introduced in Minneapolis to help mentor Somali youth to prevent them from being susceptible to recruiters. Last week, program leaders announced additions to the program that emphasize mentorship, job outreach and youth leadership training. The approach is a solid one that will likely have more success because leaders in the Somali community were involved in developing the plan.

A key to the success of this program will be its flexibility. Boston and Los Angeles also have introduced anti-terrorism programs, and it would be worthwhile for Minnesota to keep track of those cities’ failures and successes and tweak its program accordingly.

Kim Davis is no Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks. But her decision to essentially countermand the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling crystallized an important conversation about this nation’s balance between religious freedom and state-mandated rights.

We don’t agree with Davis, but her case is valuable if only to cause us to ask ourselves: Where would I defy the state to defend my principles? What would be worth sacrificing my freedom? These are questions worth pondering, even if only to understand why you disagree with Davis.

It’s not pure chance that Kentucky is ground zero on this debate. So-called flyover states aren’t as homogeneous as many might think. Kentucky has a constitutional prohibition against gay marriage, yes, but it is a mix of relatively liberal urban islands amid a conservative rural sea. A gay mayor presides over Lexington, an hour west of Rowan County. This political geography makes for an excellent ideological laboratory in the clash between conscience and cold statute.