Student activists are mobilizing to put a last minute stop to billions of dollars in student aid cuts after a pair of mixed votes in Congress last week.
On Nov. 22, the House of Representatives voted to reject a major higher education spending bill that would haven frozen financial aid at 2005 levels, a surprising move that drew favor from student advocacy groups.
However, for many the celebration was short-lived. The next day, the House voted to pass the budget reconciliation bill, which would cut $14.3 billion from student loan programs.
After putting the budget reconciliation bill on hold for 10 days, Republicans were able to get the needed votes at 1:45 in the morning on Nov. 23 to narrowly approve the bill 217-215. The House and the Senate will finalize their budget plans for the next five years before the end of this year.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill will create $7.8 billion in new charges to students through higher interest rates and increased taxes, costing the average student up to $5,800 in additional payments.
The impending cuts are drawing concern from student leaders at many colleges, who worry about how the legislation might affect their student bodies. With the vote to finalize the bill expected in the second week of December, activists are preparing to do whatever they can to stop the proposed aid reductions.
“We are ready to mobilize, to cram the halls of Congress and heckle the congressmen as they went to vote with like hundreds of other D.C.-area college students,” said Andrew Rose, president of the student government association at the University of Maryland. “It hasn’t come to that, but we are ready.”
Rose added that more than two thirds of all students who attend Maryland receive federally supported student loans and grants, and in a time where a college degree is considered a necessity for economic advancement, we should “be improving access and affordability to higher education, increasing funds for loans and grants – not squandering them.”
Also at the front of the campaign are several nonprofit organizations that represent student interests in Washington. Jennifer Pae, vice president of the United States Student Association, said stopping the cuts is one of the advocacy group’s top priorities.
“USSA is proud to lead the student role in the defeat of Budget Reconciliation as the proposed cuts are a serious threat to millions of students,” Pae said, adding that “many students can barely manage their current loan debt, and increasing the typical student’s debt by an additional $5,800 will only make students suffer.”
The movement is also getting a boost from several Democratic politicians who oppose the Republican-backed bill. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the reconciliation bill places an unfair burden on students already struggling with rising tuition.
“As the costs of four-year public colleges continue to rise – with a 46 percent increase since 2001 – we should be making financial aid more readily available,” Hoyer said, adding that “it is simply immoral to balance the budget on the backs of our nation’s students and their families.”
