Students with college loans are about to face a test of character.
Those without the means to pay for college, who continue to pursue education through borrowing, must demand that the Senate re-evaluate its priorities.
Congress began this year with a $12.7 billion slash into federal student financial aid, the largest cut in history.
That same sad tune echoes in the halls of Congress as they consider President George W. Bush’s budget for the 2007 fiscal year. Among the 42 educational programs cut in Bush’s budget proposal is the $65 million-Federal Perkins Loans program.
About 1,200 students from Pierce have received Perkins Loans since 1987.
No students received any this year, but instead received, Stafford loans with a lower but variable interest.
Meanwhile, nursing students who graduated and will continue in the field are offered the chance to transfer their Federal Perkins Loans into grants, relieving them from any further payments.
Bush’s budget adds a 1 percent insurance fee on general college loans, allows interest rates to rise as high as 8.5 percent and changes the variable interest rates for Stafford loans to a fixed 6.8 percent rate beginning July 1.
We are at the point now, where as the necessity increases to have a four-year degree, it’s becoming more difficult to actually afford one.
The fallout from college debt is already affecting millions of Americans, some of whom; are still struggling to pay off loans sometimes decades after graduation.
The House of Representatives has already approved the President’s budget whereas the Senate has not. There are still viable options for change.
Students have a big opportunity to save themselves from a future of financial turmoil.
Between now and then, masses of college students both at the two- and four-year levels have a chance to stop the raid on their educational and financial well being.
How? By writing U.S. senators, telling them these programs are essential.
Borrowers are currently facing three to four times the amount of their original loan.
This is no time for people just getting out of college trying to start careers and households to have to pay interest on interest.
And if students do the math, they’ll find a $30,000 loan can easily turn into a $100,000 debt over the 30-or-so years they plan to take to pay it off.
Less funding for education means fewer students which leads to a greater divide between the haves and the have-nots.
Contact your senators
Dianne Feinstein, (202) 224-3841 http://feinstein.senate.gov/email.html
Barbara Boxer, (202) 224-3553
http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm