Semester bills and the cost of books may concern students, but recent Social Security controversy may urge students to look beyond this semester's finances.

White House officials are in the first phase of a strategy to build support for a new proposed plan to overhaul Social Security.

The proposed plan allows workers to put 4 percent of their wages into private investment accounts. This will affect the way Social Security benefits are calculated.

"I think college students should be aware of this," Alex Colvin, a Penn State labor studies and industrial relations professor, said.

"Even though they think it's not as important, it is because it's more important for their retirement," he added.

The proposed plan involves very large benefit cuts, said Peter Diamond, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of the book Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach.

Diamond said he thinks the government policy of borrowing money and then lending it to workers, who can then invest in stocks, is not sensible.

"I don't see this way of organizing retirement savings helping at all," he said. "The government policy of lending money seems to not be a good way of improving national savings or social insurance."

College Republicans Chairman Andy Banducci said the proposed plan is a good idea because it empowers individuals to make their own decisions.

"It's the only way to solve the Social Security crisis," Banducci said. "It looks like this is the best way to do it; to make sure people are receiving the benefits they're expected to."

Jason Listak (senior-mechanical engineering) said if Social Security is privatized, there would be more incentive to save money.

"It's a tough issue, and if it is effectively privatized, it will be a better thing in the long run," he said.

College Democrats President Megan Green said she does not think Social Security is in crisis.

"We just need to work on making sure that we are not spending more money than we need to give out," she said. "I don't think that giving the money to people to invest it, when that would give them a higher chance to lose or mismanage the money, is the answer to the problem."

Colvin said the Social Security debate is a complex issue that merits the attention and interest of students who are more likely to be affected by any changes.

"There is a shift away from the parents or grandparents' pensions by public employers," he said. "What you get now you have to invest to fund for your own retirement. Social security has a more important role in supplementing that."

Caitlin Cassidy (junior-secondary education and theater arts) said her greatest concern is that when her parents retire, there will not be any more money left.

She said the proposed plan is a possible solution, but it is not the only solution.

"I would like to hear that they're exploring other options because it's going to affect us," Cassidy said.