The Republican Raid on Student Aid

From the CDA:

On February 1st, the Republican Congress voted 216 to 214 to cut $12 billion from the student loan programs as a part of the budget reconciliation bill, the largest cut in the history of the loan programs.

Rather than cutting lender subsidies, the bill derives most of its savings by continuing the practice of forcing student and parent borrowers to pay excessive interest rates on their loans and by increasing interest rates for parent borrowers. These cuts will pay for tax cuts for some of the wealthiest Americans. In the same budget bill that authorized these student loan cuts, Congress also called for up to $70 billion in tax cuts that will be finalized this Spring.

Here are several steps to take from here.

1) Write a letter to the editor to your local paper. Legislators must be thanked or chided publicly so they continue to get the right message on our issue.

2) Let President Bush know how you feel! He has openly said he will sign this bill into law, yet at the State of the Union, he called for an increase in our country's academic competitiveness. Which way will he go? It's hard to deny he might not go our way. However, don't you think he should feel the dismay of college students and their families as he makes the decision?

3) Our next move will be the appeal to the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, set up in September by US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Its aim is to establish a blueprint for higher education into the 21st century. We will ensure that student loan debt and the need to fully fund federal grant and loan programs become top priorities to this commission over the next several months. Look for the tour of two ten foot tall ball and chains labeled 'student debt' as one might arrive at your campus, and take time to send a public comment yourself about the federal role in higher education when you see it.