Funding for higher education topped Chris Heinz’s agenda Wednesday as he stumped for his stepfather, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

“If people knew they could afford college, I think they would work harder,” Heinz said in an interview after the speech.

In a time of large tuition hikes in Iowa and the nation, Heinz said Kerry has developed plans to help students and their parents afford college.

The first plan involves a $4,000 tax credit for parents sending their children to college. The credit would be available for each year a child is in college, up to four years.

Kerry has also proposed a program that would provide funding for students who engage in public service in their hometowns for up to two years. The program, Heinz said, is similar to the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights, for students.

The participants in the program, which Heinz referred to as “soldier-citizens,” can either participate for two years and earn a four-year scholarship, or participate part-time and get a smaller scholarship.

“I think it’s pretty spooky we’re spending $8 billion per month in Iraq, and the total cost of [the education] program is $10 billion,” Heinz said.

“If we could get college students’ funding on that ahead of time, think of what we could get done.”

In the last three years, Heinz said, there have been 220,000 people accepted into college, but unable to attend because of financing. Tuition has increased an average 35 percent nationwide in the same time period. In Iowa alone, tuition has increased 61 percent at state universities.

After the speech, Heinz stopped to talk to Luke Gran, sophomore in biology, and made a call to Gran’s grandmother, who has pneumonia. Gran said Heinz asked her about what she thought was important to her right now, and wished her well.

“He joked about how the rain was bad,” Gran said. “It was really nice.”

Heinz also used his visit to drum up support for Kerry, and attacked the Bush administration’s performance so far.

“I think the fundamental question is, is your life better than it was four years ago,” Heinz said, citing a similar question Ronald Reagan used in 1980 to defeat Jimmy Carter. “And I think on that score most of these people would have to say no.”

Heinz said the current administration has been more destructive and more secretive than any administration yet.

Despite the critical statements toward Bush, he was quick to say the problem isn’t widespread. Many Republicans still keep with what he saw as the traditional elements: fiscal conservatism, separation of church and state and protection of civil rights.

“I think those three things I talked about here have been pretty traipsed upon,” he said.

Drew Larson, Campaign 2004 co-chairman for the ISU Democrats, said Heinz was an excellent spokesman for Kerry.

“It wasn’t your standard political stump speech,” Larson said. “He made a powerful case for electing John Kerry and he did it while being completely open and honest.”

Besides stumping for his stepfather, Heinz also addressed his plans for the future after the Nov. 2 election. Many Democratic supporters have speculated that he might seek the office his biological father, the late Sen. John Heinz III, R-Pa., once held.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do for a job,” he said. “It just depends on what happens.”