CORRECTION: Because of a reporting error, a mistake was made in this article. The statement that Congress will increase an average student's fees by $6,000 a year was reported in an editorial from The Daily Texan titled Viewpoint: HR 609 would harmstudents
not by the Education Finance Council.
This is part of the proposed $50 billion budget cut requested by President Bush, said Craig Orfield, communications director for Congress' Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
This would be the largest cut to federal student aid programs in Congress' 40-year history, said Thomas Kiley, communications director of the Health, Education and Workforce Committee.
Officially titled the College Access and Opportunity Act, the bill would increase borrowing limits on loans and raise the interest rates on all types of student loans - and increase the average student loan by about $6,000 a year, according to a study conducted by the Education Finance Council, a nonprofit trade association dedicated to making college affordable.
Any reduction in aid whether it is at the federal or state level affects needy students who rely on it to attend college
said Sondra Williams, the director of the student Financial Aid office at Ohio University. College costs continue to increase
and financial aid has not kept pace. The only programs that are available to bridge the gap are private loan programs.
Williams said OU students - including those at regional campuses - are receiving about $100 million in federal loans this year, compared to more than $104 million last year.
Of undergraduates who graduated between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005, 62 percent borrowed some type of federal or private loan. Their average debt upon graduation was $18,101, she said.
Williams said she is opposed to Congress' proposal.
Since I work in the business of providing access to higher education
I am never in favor of a reduction that will most likely prevent some students from either coming in the first place or continuing
Williams said.
These cuts in federal funding come just as tuition rate increases might be slowing.
According to The College Board's annual report released last month on students' abilities to pay for college, the increase in public tuition last year was significantly smaller than past years, an increase of about 6.6 percent at public four-year colleges, compared to last year's increase of 7.1 percent.
We have improved student aid
Orfield said. We have not only significantly increased student aid generally but also made significant increases in emergency aid to students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
The College Board report also stated aid has increased 86 percent in the past decade, and the number of loans has doubled, but the average student receives less aid. Students also have borrowed almost $14 billion from sources other than federal aid.
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