Raid on Student Aid

TomPaine.com - The Raid On Student Aid

Republicans are stumbling. Their mismanagement of the Iraq conflict, immigration and the Dubai Ports World deal are impacting their polling numbers. Add their failure on college affordability to that list. The legacy of the Bush administration and this Congress has been one of broken promises and cuts to student financial aid.

In February, Republicans voted through nearly $12 billion in cuts to student assistance programs. President Bush’s most recent budget, for the sixth straight year, leaves the maximum Pell Grant—the nation’s primary grant assistance program—well below the $5,100 he promised while campaigning for a second term.

These broken promises and cuts come at a time when the typical student borrower graduates with $17,500 in loan debt and interest rates on college loans are being hiked this July. Tuition at four year public colleges rose 40 percent since 2001, and 200,000 students are unable to attend college at all this year because of the costs.

While they have the right rhetoric, noting that the country’s economic strength is dependent on Americans receiving quality post-secondary education, Republicans refuse to properly invest in our students. Are Republican politicians so wealthy that the rising cost of a college education is irrelevant to their families? Do they simply not care that paying for college has become more difficult over the past decade? Is it that they place paying for tax breaks for the wealthy ahead of America’s students and our economy?