As part of a larger bill to reduce the defecit and find money for relief for Hurricane Katrina victims, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to make it more expensive to secure federal student loans.
The bill, which has been debated in the House Education Committee, would cut $14.3 billion from loan programs by the end of the decade. This represents one third of all the cuts proposed in the entire bill.
We understand that cuts need to be made to already bloated federal budget, but we question whether student loans are the right place to find money. The highway bill that passed this year was chalk full of pork for congressmen's pet projects. Sen. Ted Stevens ,R-Ark., had to give up his $230 million "bridge to nowhere" after Americans rightly protested the outrageous project.
College students are not necessarily swimming in money, especially while they are in and just out of, college. Taking money away from grant programs only makes a college education less affordable and more out of reach for many students.
Americans should band together to help their fellow man after natural disasters, but a lack of stewardship on Congress' part does not represent a justification for cutting programs that actually reap a harvest.
