The Raid on Student Aid

With the high cost of textbooks, skyrocketing loan debt and shrinking grant aid, students are digging behind the couch cushions to scrape together what it takes to pay for college these days. Students and their parents all around the country are having to work harder to afford college, but are facing mounting debt as they reach for graduation day.

As schools kicked into gear for the fall semester, the Republican controlled Congress reconvened after Labor Day to tackle major national issues including addressing the looming national deficit. Unfortunately, they continue to ignore a major issue: that students are coming up short when it comes to paying for college. Worse yet, both the House and Senate proposed cutting as much as another $14 billion from student aid programs.

The bill in the House of Representatives cuts student aid by raising student loan interest rates and eliminating critical borrower benefits. The Senate bill would raise interest rates on loans parents take out.

Democrats continue to propose that Congress work to make college more affordable- and less burdensome to students and their parents. The Democrats’ proposal would eliminate excessive subsidies to lenders and recycle the funds to use them for additional grant aid instead, while providing lower interest rates on loans. Sadly, the Republican led Congress' current plan plunges us deeper into a hole making college more difficult to pay for than ever.

How deep is the hole?

Every year millions of students fall short of what the federal government estimates is the cost of paying for college, even after adding up all available federal and state aid, expected family contributions, and student work. A typical low-income student falls $3,800 short a year at a 4 year school, while the typical middle class student falls $2,300 short. This is not pocket change.

Nearly half of all full time students work 25 hours or more every week, more than experts recommend for a student with a full course load. Students are also taking on increasing debt, with the average college graduate finishing with a diploma and almost $20,000 in student loan debt. In today’s math, more work equals higher debt.

At universities and colleges across the nation students are struggling. To make matters worse in 2003 alone 200,000 qualified high school graduates chose not to go to college due to increasing costs– and similar numbers do so every year.

Will Congress keep digging the hole?

The first rule of holes is that if you find yourself in one, stop digging. But this year, both Congressional Education committees were told to reconcile the federal deficit with cuts to student aid. While this process is touted as necessary to reduce the federal deficit, it actually increases the federal deficit by $35 billion over 5 years. Therefore these cuts neither accomplish the deficit reduction goal nor help millions of students emerge from college debt. Under the House plan, the average student borrower could pay up to $5,800 more in student loans.

Congress appears to be balancing the federal deficit on the backs of students.

We’re in this together

Hurricane Katrina exposed social and economic fault lines that are all too real. As Americans we are all in this together, but we have to provide young men and women the opportunities to earn the education that will allow them to give back to their communities and contribute to society as a whole. A college degree increases the size of the skilled work force, ensures a higher salary upon graduation, and increases the likelihood that students will become the civic leaders of tomorrow. Now is the time to strengthen the programs that are available to provide students access to an affordable education.

The second rule of holes is that you should fill them. The way to do this is to make college more affordable and more accessible for all who want to attend.