Will Congress Cut College Aid?

Cartoon by Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig via Flickr. Click to view source.

Well, the representatives in Congress are back to arguing over money … again.  This time they have to cut $3 trillion dollars over the course of two years and the issues on the table this time are Social Security, military funding, welfare, and financial aid for students.

 

Congress has been debating whether to raise the debt ceiling and they have until Aug. 2 to come to an agreement.  Neither party can come to an agreement over the many issues that need to be either reduced, or cut down to the bare minimum, or even just to be cut out entirely.  (For Rep. Peter DeFazio’s take on the issues about money being cut for schools, look below.)

More than 8.5 million undergraduate students have received Pell grants and three-fourths of those families made less than $30,000 a year.  The Pell grant is one of the issues on the table and it is unclear what they have in mind for it so far.  Without the federal Pell grants, what are students going to do?  They have many choices, but most may consider dropping out of school or taking out a loan and creating a debt that they won’t be able to afford.  Which do you choose?

What about military veterans?  One in three veterans that go to school receive a Pell grant.  They fought  for this country and this is how we treat them?  By taking away their financial aid and saying “I’m sorry, but you can’t go to school anymore because America can’t afford to pay for it.”  That’s not very fair to them.

Over the next couple of years, it will be even harder to either finish school or to even get into college.  The Oregon Legislature has cut state support for higher education by 16 percent, or $132 million, for 2011-13 as part of a series of recession-triggered budget cuts.  Tuition is going to keep going up, with the possibility of less financial aid for students.

Without education, how far are we going to get?  We are one of the smartest countries in the world, but we have a spending problem.  Instead of pointing fingers and arguing over everything and not taking blame for anything, why don’t we try and fix the problem in a timely manner?

How about instead of cutting things from low-income families, the people that can barely afford to live, how about if the government asks the public what they think should be cut?  Why not have a nationwide poll on what America thinks we should keep and what we think should go?  We do after all have a freedom of speech and are free to petition the government.

It’s time to stand up, Congress, and see what the average American has to say.  I urge each and every one of you to contact your senator and representatives and tell them what you think.  Tell them not to cut financial aid, or Social Security, welfare, and to leave the military budget alone because they are fighting for our country and we’re not going to take away their paychecks just to “save” the economy.  Let your opinion be known.

Q&A with Congressmen Peter DeFazio:

The Commuter: What do you think about Congress cutting money for schools?

Peter DeFazio: I think it is really stupid.  I think that we need to reduce federal spending and invest money back into the economy.  In order to grow and get money and to save America, we have to do two things.  First, we need to invest in infrastructure.  We need better building and better roads.  Then the second one is to invest in education.  We have some of the brightest kids in today’s society and without proper education, how far are they going to get?  The Tea Party have all agreed and said that Congress is not cutting enough money out of schools.

T.C.: How much of school aid is getting cut?

P.D.: At first they said that we needed to cut $3 trillion dollars from the budget and Congress has decided one of those things will be financial aid for low-income students, but along with the $3 trillion, they have also decided that an additional $17 billion more needs to be cut.  The goal is to have at least the $3 trillion cut from the budget by 2013.  HR1 is going to attack the Pell grants and financial aid for low-income students and I think it is stupid to do that.

T.C.: Any alternatives for low-income students?

P.D.: Other than the Pell grants, I don’t think so.  See, the Pell grants are meant for low-income students and the student loans are for students that have a higher income than the average student.

T.C.: What about military students?  Is the G.I. Bill or the spouse program being reduced?

P.D.: I am not aware about this question, so far it has not come up.  As far as I know, we’re not going to do anything with the G.I. Bill or the spouse program.

T.C.: Do you know of another financial aid fund?

P.D.: The only one that I am really familiar with, is my program.  I award 10 scholarships per year and they are all need based.

T.C.: How do students access it?

P.D.: The normal way…through a scholarship program.  I believe the scholarships are called ‘DeFazio Scholarships’ and they are all highly competitive and are all need based.  I only had them out to four schools in my district, plus one on the border of my district.  All of my scholarships either go to low-income, as needed, students, or to Veterans trying to go back to school, or to the unemployed and are going back to school to get a job/career or are training for a new job/career.

(Cartoon by Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig. (Creative Commons))