Less than a week after Gov. Tom Vilsack requested a 7 percent budget cut for all three regent universities, he attempted to ease the blow college students will feel.

Vilsack announced Tuesday a proposed tax credit for Iowa college graduates to help them recover a large amount of their college debt once they are living and working in Iowa.

At first glance it looks like a good idea.

But upon closer inspection this is nothing more than a small Band-Aid to cover a huge flesh wound.

Vilsack presented this idea as an answer to the controversy surrounding the state’s largest proposed tuition increase in 20 years. The Board of Regents released a preliminary base tuition increase of 11.5 percent earlier this month.

So with less money for state universities and a poor economy with little hope in the future, Vilsack to trying to turn things around.

But does he honestly believe that a tax credit will save this sluggish economy and educational budget cuts?

Or is he trying to dodge the criticism from local Democrats?

Since the governor was not able to give a cost or timeline of the plan, it appears he is just trying to save political face after being criticized when he announced his budget requests last week.

The tax credit won’t help when college graduates are living in their parents’ basement when they can’t find a job next year.

It won’t help convince smart and successful out-of-state students to stay in Iowa.

In these tough times, the governor needs to encourage all people to stay in the state, not just in-state students. It doesn’t make sense that out-of-state students are not included in the program.

Vilsack should be working to get young people to stay in Iowa through businesses and job opportunities, focusing on solutions, not patching problems.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Omar Tesdell