Advocate Online

From Capitol to Campus

The House and Senate are wrangling with legislation, called budget reconciliation, which is designed to cut spending in numerous mandatory "entitlement" programs. In higher education, the largest federal program is student financial aid, and since it is the largest, it is the most likely source of savings.

In this reconciliation, congressional leaders are using the cover of "deficit reduction" to cut some $35-$50 billion from "mandatory" programs targeting those with the greatest needs, such as student aid, Medicaid, and Food Stamps. But these savings are likely to be used in a subsequent reconciliation package to offset $70 billion in new tax cuts for those with the highest incomes.

The Senate passed its bill with relative ease, even though NEA opposed it because of the loss of $13 billion in student aid. Even though there are cuts, the vast majority of the costs are borne by lenders and not by students. The Senate also tied its version of the Higher Education Act reauthorization to the reconciliation bill. (More on the Higher Education Act at www.nea.org/lac/highered.

Now, NEA and the broader higher education advocacy community are actively advocating against the House reconciliation bill that would, through increased interest rates for student loans and other actions, increase the average student’s debt from $17,500 to more than $23,000.