Qualified, college-bound students have been able to rely on government financial support for a costly education for quite some time now, but what would happen if the government could not always lend a helping hand?
This school year, loan packages have been harder to obtain than ever before. An attentive federal and state government plays an important role in this issue, and we as students are directly affected.
At the federal level for example, back in the early ’90s, Bill Clinton had the foresight to implement the Federal Direct Loan Program, designed to allow college-bound students to borrow Stafford loans, PLUS loans, etc., with the Department of Education as a lender. At the time, inflation caused students from less prosperous families to be denied access to higher educational institutions. The budget for this program has decreased dramatically over the years.
Unfortunately, the federal government must spend money on many agencies and departments and because of that, some issues like student loans are often put on the back burner. This mess exists not only at the federal level but also the state level. Right now, individual states can potentially make or break our chances of a legitimate academic career.
I was in Massachusetts this summer and witnessed this firsthand. The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (a self-financing loan agency also known as MEFA) is “unable to provide student loans for this school year because of turmoil in the nation’s credit markets,” as reported by The Boston Globe.
Students who have received funds from MEFA for their college career thus far are suddenly out of luck, and that is exactly what this seems to be a matter of: luck. There may as well be a lottery taking place.
Institutions of higher education depend on a steady revenue stream from students to keep operating. If student aid is cut, that revenue stream is cut as well. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is now asking that these institutions invest in MEFA bonds to assist in regaining a budget.
The problem is that institutions can only support themselves as long as they have enough revenue, and that can’t happen until their students are given the means to provide it. This is a vicious circle.
Just recently Congress passed a bill designed to re-authorize an act that The Washington Post reported will “nearly double the maximum amount of Pell Grants by 2014 and will require the Education Department to collect and publish better data on soaring tuition costs at universities and colleges.”
It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s a five-year plan that does not help the college seniors and graduate students who are facing debt now.
Many students have been forced to turn towards private loans offered by banks and loan agencies. These private loans carry higher interest than the more merciful federal loans that we are more familiar with, which were put in place to stop this very situation.
Immediate actions with immediate results need to take place. Perhaps it would be best for our president to be mindful of all his constituents and stop threatening to veto bills that appropriate funding for higher education. Just last year, President Bush vetoed a bill that would have provided “$150.7 billion in discretionary spending for the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services,” according to an article in the International Herald Tribune.
In doing so, he is limiting our means of a good and proper education. He is compromising the success of the future workforce, and developing a new social class soon to be filled with those who are fortunate enough to have obtained a college degree.
Instead, he signed a bill appropriating $459 billion to the Pentagon for non-war funding.
You be the judge.
ZACHARY GERG is a senior music industry major.
