05-01-06,7:11am
Among the massive cuts to federal programs that benefit working people, Republican congressional leaders have muscled through $12.7 billion in cuts to student aid as part of the Bush administration’s budget blueprint.
Translation: Students who borrow up to $20,000 could end up paying an extra $6,000 over the life of the loan.
The education cuts are part of a $40 billion package President George W. Bush signed in February that also slashed health care funding, child-support enforcement and several programs for low-income families. A $70 billion tax giveaway to the rich is awaiting congressional action.
To counter the attack on the education of our nation’s children, the AFL-CIO, AFT, NEA and other unions and student groups are lining up in a “Reverse the Raid on Student Aid” campaign to make a college education more affordable for working family students.
New legislation (S. 2573, H.R. 5150) introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) would:
-Reverse scheduled student loan interest rate hikes the Bush spending cut package will impose July 1. -Fully fund the Pell Grant program. -Make it easier for students and their families to consolidate their student loans.
“The AFT firmly believes that the role of the federal government is to increase access to higher education,” says Gabriella Gomez, a higher education specialist in AFT’s legislative department. ”Until now, there has been very little done in the president’s budget to ensure that access is a reality. This legislation is a definite step in the right direction, and we hope that other members of Congress will follow suit.”
Durbin and Miller point out that the average tuition at a four-year public college has jumped 40 percent since 2001 (adjusted for inflation) and the average student borrower is saddled with a $17,500 debt after graduation.
“Congress should be making college more affordable, but instead Washington Republicans chose to put college further out of reach for American students and their families,” Miller says.
The heart of the bill would cut interest rates in half—saving the student with the $17,500 debt some $5,600 over the loan’s life. The other key provision would fully fund the Pell Grant program and boost the maximum grant to $5,800, compared with the $4,050 limit the Republican-controlled Congress has imposed by underfunding the program.
“The legacy of this White House and Congress to date has been broken promises and historic funding cuts that put college even further out of reach for millions of American students and their families,” Durbin says.
