Students are often asked to help advance causes that, while worthwhile, may not have a direct effect on the quality of their lives. Advocating for Congress to pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act is not one of those causes.
This week, young people around the country are calling and tweeting legislators in support of a sweeping overhaul of college lending and aid that will expand access to higher education for millions of low- and middle-income students.
SAFRA will invest $40 billion in Pell Grants, which will raise the maximum grants to $5,550 in 2010 and $6,900 by 2019. That could help eliminate some of the staggering loan debt many students face after graduation.
The truth is, Pell Grants aren’t what they used to be. In 1976, Pell Grants covered 72 percent of the cost of attending a four-year college. The grants covered 32 percent of the cost in 2008.
Those who must rely on student loans will also benefit from the bill. Under SAFRA, all new federal government loans will come directly from the government. This will eliminate government subsidies to private lenders, saving an estimated $87 billion during the next decade and putting an end to what has become a corrupt system of lenders bribing colleges for preferential treatment. The new Direct Loan program that will be created could also make loans more insulated from swings in the economy.
SAFRA will help recruit and retain more minority students by investing $2.55 billion in historically black colleges. The bill will also use some of the savings gained from removing private lenders to assist community colleges and create state and federal partnerships for college access and completion.
The most widely supported component of the legislation is a much needed simplification of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. As President Obama has long advocated, the bill will drastically reduce the number of questions on FAFSA forms by allowing students and parents to directly transfer information from their tax returns.
If there is anything on which most students could find common ground, it is the need to make the entire financial aid process less excruciating.
Still, the bill has its detractors. SAFRA passed the U.S. House in September by a vote of 253 to 171 and will likely face a tougher fight in the Senate. One reason for that might be the millions private lenders are willing to spend lobbying against the bill. Despite losing the vote in the House, the formerly government-sponsored entity Sallie Mae spent $2.1 million lobbying during the first half of this year, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Broke young people who may not even be able to afford to go to college obviously cannot match that kind of spending. But this week, a coordinated effort of groups like the United States Student Association and Student Public Interest Research Groups are working to mobilize support for expanding access to higher education.
Though those groups have been controversial on this campus, there is little for any student to oppose in making college more affordable for those already here and increasing opportunities for those least likely to attend a university otherwise.
Those potentially dramatic changes are worth the time it will take to call or tweet a senator and tell them to support SAFRA.
[email protected]