Bill Clinton: “Well, first of all, I'm proud of the fact that Congress was able to come up with the money to fully reimburse Cal State…”

“Well, first of all, I'm proud of the fact that Congress was able to come up with the money to fully reimburse Cal State, Northridge, for the losses it incurred, along with a 10 percent match coming from the State. I'm very proud of that. Secondly, I hope that during this clean-up effort, there will be even more jobs available in the short run, which will help a lot and which some of your students will be able to get. But thirdly, and perhaps most important of all, the average age of a college student today is a little over 26 years of age. More and more people recognize that if they want to get a good job with a growing income, if they don't want to have the kind of stagnant wages that most American workers have been saddled with for 20 years, they've got to have at least 2 years of post-high-school education and training. And we are busily engaged here in Washington in passing some education legislation and some training legislation which will make it easier for every person in America to get those 2 years of post-high-school education and training. That's the most important thing of all. If you stay there, if you see it through, if you go on and get a 4-year education, the more you have, the better your prospects are. But we know, based on the 1990 census, we actually now have hard evidence that the global economy is punishing high school dropouts, punishing high school graduates, and rewarding people who have 2 years or more of post- high-school education. So if we want to restructure the California economy and we want new jobs in high-tech areas without the guarantee of defense, we've got to make sure that every young person and every not-so-young person in California who will go to a place like Cal State, Northridge, does so. Mr. Jackson. Mr. President, I can't think of an occasion when a Chief Executive of the United States has aligned himself so immediately and completely with a Californian concern or issue, in this case a natural disaster. Our leader locally is Mayor Richard Riordan, of course.”