With double-digit tuition hikes at Colorado colleges this year, the last thing students and their parents need is for Congress to set their pit bulls on federal financial aid programs.
House Republicans, aiming to cut $50 billion in spending overall, want to make $14.3 billion in spending reductions in student aid over the next five years. The “cuts” include nearly $8 billion in new charges to students who default on their loans or even consolidate them, and higher fees for parents who borrow to pay for their children’s education.
Congressman George Miller, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee, figures the extra fees could add $5,800 in new charges for a student already carrying a typical $17,500 in loan debt.
The end result, if the full House doesn’t restore some of the money later this week, could be fewer students attending colleges or universities.
We’re sympathetic to Congress’ desire to cut spending, given the ballooning national deficit and a president who has never met a spending bill he didn’t like, but if America is going to compete in this ever-changing global economy, its children need to be educated. China and India are producing the economic and commercial leaders of tomorrow while Congress cuts back on student financial aid.
Nationally, even though the deficit continues to rise, education funding has been stagnant. The maximum Pell grants for low-income students has been locked in at $4,050 for the past four years, despite rising tuition and costs.
Part of the House Republicans’ package would cut some subsidies to private lenders who loan students money. It’s a cut we certainly can live with, and probably should have been done years ago, but it would be prudent to return that money to education, perhaps by boosting the Pell program.
Any cut will hurt in Colorado, where higher education has taken a hit of at least $400 million over the past four years and tuition rates have risen to make up for it. Students here received a $2,400 stipend this year from the state to attend any public college or university. With the passage of Referendum C last week, lawmakers may be able to boost that stipend, especially if Congress makes it more difficult to borrow money for school.
Congress certainly needs to be concerned about the deficit, but until it talks seriously about reversing some of President Bush’s 2002 tax cuts, targeting effective education programs should be a last resort.
