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Higher Ed Groups Ask for Relief for Students

By Pedro de la Torre - Dec 11th, 2008 at 2:34 pm

Today, several consumer, higher education, and student groups (including Campus Progress) sent a letter to Congress asking that assistance for students be included in the economic stimulus package. Students have been hit hard by the recession as states slash higher education funding and endowments plummet.

Specifically, the groups are asking Congress to:

• Raise the maximum Pell Grant to $7,000
• Increase funding for the Federal Work-Study Program by 25 percent.
• Improve access to Parent PLUS loans.
• Provide a limited “emergency access” student loan pool for colleges that commit to providing adequate need-based aid.

Currently, the only federal response to the crisis of higher education funding has been to pass a law, which has received some criticism, that aims to make sure access to federal student loans is not interrupted by problems in the credit market, and to include providers of private (“alternative”) student loans in the $700 billion dollar bailout.

This latter policy has be widely denounced by higher education policy experts, as well as student and consumer advocates (including Campus Progress), who contend that it is counterproductive. They are asking for people to take action by writing a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to abandon the plan, or to at least make participating companies adopt more protections for borrowers.

Tags: bailout, college affordability, Congress, economic meltdown