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[Nbadan]

Education groups concerned about student aid cuts


(AP) -- As Congress looks to cut up to $50 billion in spending, education and student groups are complaining that college financial aid will take the biggest hit.

House Republican leaders have ordered the committee that oversees federal student aid to find more cuts than any other committee -- about $18 billion. On Wednesday, the House Education and Workforce Committee approved a Republican proposal designed to cut spending on student aid by $14.5 billion over the next five years.

Those cuts may eventually be watered down, but the proposals have alarmed education groups, who call them the biggest in the history of federal student aid and are lobbying fiercely to stave them off. Advocacy groups have been encouraging students to pressure lawmakers by calling an 800 number, trying to replicate a successful 1995 lobbying effort.

Their message has been somewhat undermined, however, because most of the proposed savings would come from cuts in government subsidies to private institutions that loan students money. That's something some education groups have wanted for years -- although they called for the savings to be plowed directly back into education. Now they're worried the money will go to deficit reduction.

Students also could pay an indirect price for the subsidy cuts if they cause private lenders to get out of the student loan business. That could mean less choice and available funding for students.

CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/10/27/student.aid.ap/index.html)

hummm...I wonder what class of voters changes in the availability of student loan programs will affect the most?

[Vashner]

Well you wanted Rita aid fast right? Here's your aid money now stfu.

[SWC Bonfire]

That's something some education groups have wanted for years -- although they called for the savings to be plowed directly back into education. Now they're worried the money will go to deficit reduction.

That would be horrible!!!

[Gatita]

Financial aid is being ripped of by millions of "college" students. I see it every semester. Kids sign up, get their check and bail out on school.

[SWC Bonfire]

Or enroll in the required number of hours to receive financial aid, then dropping classes once the check comes in.

[Gatita]

Or enroll in the required number of hours to receive financial aid, then dropping classes once the check comes in.

Yup! But, of course its the Republicans fault. :rolleyes

[SWC Bonfire]

There is a solution to that. At A&M, once the first week of classes had passed, you could only drop 3 classes in your lifetime. They called it a "Q-drop". It also has the effect of bringing down grade inflation, because you can't just drop a bunch of courses when it looks like you're going to fail.

[RandomGuy]

Yet again, it seems that the Republican war on academia highlights the shortsightedness of conservative thinking.

In their rush to "punish" the "liberal academics" that are "radicalizing" our college students they will end up hamstringing the US economy.

The US economy is good at and exports a lot of (billions and billions, or more scientically a Sagan) dollars worth of services like legal and accounting.

The manufacturing jobs that we have left also generally require a high level of education as well.

By making higher education less available, we lose the most precious of commodities: human potential.

In this case it will have a direct long term impact on our ability to produce the complex goods and services that our economy is good at.

Short-term gains of budget cuts, long term trade disadvantages. Yet another way in which the GOP and it's short sighted policies hurt our economy. We can only hope they reconsider.

[boutons]

What's the %age of students with govt loans that default?

As always, the right wing justifies hurting the vast majoriity in compliance with rules and are qualified as being in need of help to punish the tiny %age who are cheats.

It's the same old justification for all the govt programs that conservatives want to cut.

"We don't care who it hurts, we want to punish the cheaters"

But when Clinton paid for 100K more police on the streets to go after the tiny %age of criminals, the Repubs said no.

The conservatives and Repubs use lack of PERFECT compliance for any govt program to justify cutting it. aka "perfection is the enemy of the good". fuckng liars and hypocrits.

[xrayzebra]

Education groups concerned about student aid cuts



CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/10/27/student.aid.ap/index.html)

hummm...I wonder what class of voters changes in the availability of student loan programs will affect the most?

More BS. Nothing is being cut, give me some figures on how much is being spent now and how much will be spent. Don't throw out cuts, when in reality all they are doing is cutting down on rate of growth.

Following are the highlights of the Administration's 2005 budget:

Overall student financial aid available would expand to $73.1 billion, excluding the consolidation of existing student loans, an increase of $4.4 billion or 6 percent over the 2004 level. The number of recipients of grant, loan, and work-study assistance would grow by 426,000 to 10 million students and parents.

An $856 million increase for the Pell Grant program, for a total of $12.9 billion, to fully fund the cost of maintaining a $4,050 maximum award for over 5.3 million students in award year 2005-2006, and to support new Enhanced Pell Grants for State Scholars. Since 2000, the number of Pell recipients has grown by nearly 25 percent, thanks in part to the overall boom in college enrollment.

Following are the highlights of the Administration's 2005 budget:

Overall student financial aid available would expand to $73.1 billion, excluding the consolidation of existing student loans, an increase of $4.4 billion or 6 percent over the 2004 level. The number of recipients of grant, loan, and work-study assistance would grow by 426,000 to 10 million students and parents.

An $856 million increase for the Pell Grant program, for a total of $12.9 billion, to fully fund the cost of maintaining a $4,050 maximum award for over 5.3 million students in award year 2005-2006, and to support new Enhanced Pell Grants for State Scholars. Since 2000, the number of Pell recipients has grown by nearly 25 percent, thanks in part to the overall boom in college enrollment.

Following are the highlights of the Administration's 2005 budget:

Overall student financial aid available would expand to $73.1 billion, excluding the consolidation of existing student loans, an increase of $4.4 billion or 6 percent over the 2004 level. The number of recipients of grant, loan, and work-study assistance would grow by 426,000 to 10 million students and parents.

An $856 million increase for the Pell Grant program, for a total of $12.9 billion, to fully fund the cost of maintaining a $4,050 maximum award for over 5.3 million students in award year 2005-2006, and to support new Enhanced Pell Grants for State Scholars. Since 2000, the number of Pell recipients has grown by nearly 25 percent, thanks in part to the overall boom in college enrollment.

The 2006 budget:

In 2006, the Department of Education will administer over $78 billion in grants, loans, and work-study assistance to help students pay for postsecondary education, including $62 billion in guaranteed and direct student loans and over $13 billion in Pell Grants. While these funds help millions of Americans finance postsecondary education and training, rising college costs and the necessity of advanced training in today's technology-based economy require increased investment, especially in Pell Grants to low-income students. The President's 2006 request for Student Financial Assistance includes a comprehensive set of proposals to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) that would increase financial assistance to students while improving the effectiveness of the Pell Grant and student loan programs.

The request also increases support for institutional development at colleges and universities serving large percentages of minority students, funds opportunities for students to gain international expertise and training as language and area specialists, and promotes access to postsecondary education through outreach and student support services. Highlights include the following:


A $1.3 billion increase for the Pell Grant program, including both discretionary and mandatory funding, for a total of $13.7 billion, to increase the maximum award to $4,150 and provide grants to 5.5 million low-income postsecondary students.

Increase the maximum Pell award by $100 annually over the next five years, from $4,050 to $4,550. Annual increases would be funded through mandatory savings in other student aid programs.

$4.3 billion in mandatory funding to retire the Pell Grant shortfall accumulated from 2002 to 2005, restoring the program to firm financial footing and ensuring that all eligible students receive awards.

$33 million for Enhanced Pell Grants for State Scholars to encourage States to offer and students to take demanding high school courses by increasing Pell Grants by up to $1,000 for an estimated 36,000 first-year, full-time students who complete a rigorous State Scholars program of study in high school.

$50 million for a new Presidential Math-Science Scholars program, under which the Department of Education would enter into a public-private partnership to award $100 million annually in grants to low-income math and science students. Approximately 20,000 low-income students who receive Pell Grants would receive these separate, additional awards of $5,000 each.

$125 million for a new Community College Access program, which would provide incentives to States and partnerships to improve access to a college education, particularly for low-income and minority students, through "dual-enrollment" programs offering both high school and postsecondary credit to high school students who take college-level courses.

$418.5 million for the Aid for Institutional Development (HEA Title III) programs to maintain support for institutions that help close achievement and attainment gaps between minority students and their non-minority peers, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Historically Black Graduate Institutions.

$95.9 million for Developing Hispanic-serving Institutions to maintain support for postsecondary education institutions that serve large percentages of Hispanic students. This program is a key part of the Administration's effort to increase academic achievement, high school graduation, postsecondary participation, and life-long learning among Hispanic Americans.

$106.8 million for the International Education and Foreign Language Studies (IEFLS) programs to help meet the Nation's security and economic needs through the development of expertise in foreign languages and area and international studies. The increased complexity of the post-Cold War world, the events surrounding the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, and the war on terrorism underscore the importance of maintaining and expanding American understanding of other peoples and their languages.

$11 million for the new Loans for Short-Term Training program, jointly administered by the Departments of Education and Labor, to help dislocated, unemployed, transitioning, or older workers and students. This market-oriented program, capped at $284 million in loans to 377,000 students in 2006, will allow participants to acquire or upgrade specific job-related skills through short-term training programs not currently eligible for Federal student aid.

Student Loan Reauthorization

The Administration's proposals for reauthorizing the student loan programs of the Higher Education Act would increase benefits to students through higher loan limits, lower interest rates, and more flexible and lower-cost repayment options. Proposed reforms would make the student loan programs more efficient, cost-effective vehicles for helping students finance their postsecondary educations, in part through reductions in loan subsidies to financial participants in the Federal Family Education Loans Program. Highlights of these proposals include the following:

Benefits for Students

Maintain the current variable interest rate formula on student loans so that students and families continue to benefit from projected low interest rates. Absent this proposal, the statute would fix borrower interest rates on student loans at 6.8 percent beginning July 1, 2006, substantially increasing interest rates for most borrowers. The variable-rate formula also would be applied to all Consolidation Loans.

Increase annual subsidized loan limits to $3,500 for first-year students, $4,500 for second-year students, and annual unsubsidized loan limits to $12,000 for graduate and professional students, with corresponding increases in aggregate loan limits.

Provide all Federal Family Education Loan borrowers with immediate access to extended repayment to allow more flexible debt management.

Make permanent the expanded loan forgiveness provisions of the Taxpayer-Teacher Protection Act of 2004, which forgive up to $17,500 in student loans for highly qualified math, science, and special education teachers serving low-income communities.

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Now Dan will you crawl back into you bunker, we will tell you when you can come out and go to some more of your BS sites.

[RandomGuy]

More BS. Nothing is being cut, give me some figures on how much is being spent now and how much will be spent. Don't throw out cuts, when in reality all they are doing is cutting down on rate of growth.

Following are the highlights of the Administration's 2005 budget:

[meaningless budget numbers omitted--RG]

The cost of higher education has risen faster than inflation for over two decades now, if memory serves.

Trotting out a cut and pasted propaganda piece from the White House doesn't quite cut the mustard. This administration is very masterful at slapping some gold-colored paint on piles of crap and selling them to suckers for $400 an ounce.

How about instead of raw numbers that, while impressive, are meaningless to the overall picture of college costs.

You should be looking at % increases in spending, not raw $. If you spend $100BN on higher education in one year, and college costs go up by 10% in one year, cliaming that you spent $101BN the next year and saying you are an "education" president is an outright lie, because you have in effect CUT spending on higher education by 9%, just when costs are ballooning.

This administration has long since passed the line for simply making an honest case to outright lying about things by not including the whole truth.

They have cynically played on our fears, and have lied from almost day one about just about everything. I don't say this lightly.