DES MOINES — President Clinton told a crowd of about 1,000 college Democrats Friday that the federal budget can be balanced without cutting education.

Clinton’s special guest appearance turned into a 20-minute speech at the annual dinner for the Jefferson-Jackson Celebration at Veterans Auditorium in Des Moines.

“AmeriCorps is a great program and the radical right want to take it away,” Clinton said, addressing the larger issue of financial aide for college students. AmeriCorps is a presidential-sponsored program that funds students for community service projects.

Clinton criticized Republican plans to slash education programs at the congressional level.

“We do not have to cut education to balance the budget,” he said. “This budget that Congress is trying to pass through would limit or abolish direct student loans.”

The president also emphasized an educational vision.

“We need you to stay on the right course,” Clinton told students, encouraging them to stay involved. “Value our sense of community; that means we have obligations to each other. The future you will have will be created by you. I believe the decisions we make now will shape your children 20 to 30 years from now. Try to manage the process of change.”

Students listened and cheered as Clinton challenged them to “do everything to see our diversity is a strength. No country is better than ours. We are moving from the Cold War to the global village. Our ethnic diversity is a gold mine. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves if we let it divide us.”

Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, State Attorney General Tom Miller, State Sen. Bill Witt and Earl Dowling, Iowa State’s financial aide director, also spoke at the program.

“The key word to think about is courage,” Witt said. “Work against fear and have courage to speak the truth. Show commitment to justice.”

Three students representing Iowa colleges spoke about the environment, AmeriCorps and choice. The students were Amanda Walljasper, Buena Vista University, Dana Peters, Cornell College and Robin Kneich, Drake University.

The College Democrats of America bused in college students from around the state to the program. About 160 ISU students attended. Other colleges represented were Luther, Northern Iowa, Central, Buena Vista, Coe, Kirkwood, Morris, Drake and Grandview.

“We wanted to get some student activism, so we provided free tickets and buses,” said Heather Cook, a Democratic Party official.

Organizations had hoped to bring 500 college students to Des Moines. “We were really excited that 1,000 turned out. It’s so much more than we ever expected,” Cook said.