2008 Woodie Awards
New federal budget passes: $12 billion cuts to education
Thomas Garry, Washington Square News (NYU)
Issue date: 2/8/06 Section: News
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a spending reduction bill Thursday that will cut nearly $12 billion in funding to student lending programs.
The bill, which passed by a vote of 216-214, affects government subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford student loans and the Federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students. The bill will also increase interest rates on the two loans, specifically a hike from 7.9 to 8.5 percent on the PLUS loan. Federal Perkins loans will not be affected.
Vice President for University Relations and director of the Office of Federal Policy Alicia Hurley said in a statement that the bill will directly affect college students and their families.
"[Students and their families] may be forced to pay at least $200 to $600 per year more when they are repaying their loans, depending on the loan program," Hurley said in an e-mail.
Hurley said that New York University and other colleges opposed the plan to cut student aid programs.
"What is particularly striking is that within 24 hours of President Bush's commitment in his State of the Union speech for a renewed and robust investment in math, science, research and education, this bill will make it more difficult for more students to get a college education," Hurley said.
According to the statement, the bill will affect a significant portion of the roughly $350 million NYU students receive in funding from the government each year.
Although lawmakers said these cuts would be to lenders, earlier plans called for closing so-called "lender loopholes" and reinvesting the billions of dollars during the reauthorization of the Higher Education
Act, which funds programs like Pell grants, Perkins loans, and work study, Hurley said.
"It is particularly disappointing that Congress has decided that the billions that should have been reinvested in all student aid programs is instead going toward the nation's deficit," Hurley said.
Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid make up the rest of funding cuts in the $39 billion budget cutting bill, and marked Congress' first effort to cut Medicaid and student loan subsidies in eight years.
The House's vote followed the bill's narrow passage in the Senate, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote. President Bush is expected to sign the bill before he announces his 2007 budget plan on Feb. 6.
(U-WIRE)
The bill, which passed by a vote of 216-214, affects government subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford student loans and the Federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students. The bill will also increase interest rates on the two loans, specifically a hike from 7.9 to 8.5 percent on the PLUS loan. Federal Perkins loans will not be affected.
Vice President for University Relations and director of the Office of Federal Policy Alicia Hurley said in a statement that the bill will directly affect college students and their families.
"[Students and their families] may be forced to pay at least $200 to $600 per year more when they are repaying their loans, depending on the loan program," Hurley said in an e-mail.
Hurley said that New York University and other colleges opposed the plan to cut student aid programs.
"What is particularly striking is that within 24 hours of President Bush's commitment in his State of the Union speech for a renewed and robust investment in math, science, research and education, this bill will make it more difficult for more students to get a college education," Hurley said.
According to the statement, the bill will affect a significant portion of the roughly $350 million NYU students receive in funding from the government each year.
Although lawmakers said these cuts would be to lenders, earlier plans called for closing so-called "lender loopholes" and reinvesting the billions of dollars during the reauthorization of the Higher Education
Act, which funds programs like Pell grants, Perkins loans, and work study, Hurley said.
"It is particularly disappointing that Congress has decided that the billions that should have been reinvested in all student aid programs is instead going toward the nation's deficit," Hurley said.
Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid make up the rest of funding cuts in the $39 billion budget cutting bill, and marked Congress' first effort to cut Medicaid and student loan subsidies in eight years.
The House's vote followed the bill's narrow passage in the Senate, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote. President Bush is expected to sign the bill before he announces his 2007 budget plan on Feb. 6.
(U-WIRE)