Make college part of American dream again
By JUDITH SHAPIRO
In 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act, he said, "A high school senior anywhere in this great land of ours can apply to any college or university in any one of the 50 states and not be turned away because their family is poor."
The act transformed educational opportunity for America's young people. Many millions of Americans earned college and graduate degrees and moved on to professions that were wholly inaccessible to their parents and grandparents.
Now, we are witnessing an attempt in Congress to reverse these gains. Those in the greatest jeopardy are students. Tuition at money-starved public colleges and universities - including community colleges - has increased substantially in recent years, shutting out many of the young people these institutions were meant to serve.
Tuition increases at private colleges and universities have slowed, but the costs for students and their families are already very high. At both public and private institutions, most students depend on financial aid, and many graduate with substantial debt.
Only recently has the Bush administration considered even a minimum increase in the Pell Grant in the form of a small merit-based feature to be included. The program currently has a budget shortfall of $3.7 billion.
Further aggravating the situation for students is the 14-year-old freeze on the maximum amount an individual can borrow under the Stafford and Perkins Loan Programs.
If Congress reauthorizes the Higher Education Act - as it must every five years - without any changes to this provision, there will be no increases in the maximum until 2010.
To date, untold numbers of young people nationwide have been forced to borrow staggering amounts - collectively totaling more than $7 billion - from alternative loan programs with high interest rates and no grace periods.
At Barnard, we have prided ourselves on keeping the debt burden of our students low. But recently, because of the government's failure to increase the maximum student loan, we have seen a marked increase in the number of alternative higher-interest loans taken out by our students.
Instead of strengthening the student loan programs that are at the heart of the Higher Education Act, the focus in Congress has turned to legislation that would give the federal government exceptional control over the internal workings and policies of colleges and universities, both public and private.
If these bills pass and are incorporated into the HEA, decisions on curriculum development and faculty hiring at both public and private colleges will be subject to federal interference and control.
It is a chilling prospect.
As it reauthorizes the HEA, Congress should focus its attention not on exerting more control, but on expanding student loans to make higher education accessible to all Americans.
Shapiro is president of Barnard College.
Originally published on April 26, 2004 |
