The College Corps

LIKE A BRAND-NEW PAIR OF BLUE JEANS, CLINTON'S promises have been fading and shrinking in the postelection wash. But the President has made new pledges to follow through on one of his more ambitious projects: a program that would offer tuition help to students who do community service. He promoted the plan in a speech at Rutgers University that was timed to coincide with the 32nd anniversary of John F. Kennedy's founding of the Peace Corps, and just to make sure that America's youth got the message, Clinton gave some details in an interview on MTV. Participants in the service-for-tuition program will work as teachers, police assistants, or in similar positions. Young people could serve before, after and perhaps even while attending college.

At the start, the project will be a long way from fulfilling Clinton's campaign promise "to give every American the right to borrow money for college." The President wants to begin the program this summer with a $15 million demonstration project covering 1,000 underprivileged students. By 1997 spending could grow to $3.4 billion for 100,000 young people. Clinton left the door open for expanding beyond 100,000: "If the demand exceeds the supply, I'll go back to Congress and get some more money."