In a new plan released yesterday,
House leadership called for more than $5 billion in additional cuts to student
loan programs. These cuts go over and above the $12.6 billion in cuts required
of the Committee by the budget resolution approved in April.
The House Education and
Workforce Committee will be asked to make an additional $5.5 billion in cuts
to programs over the next six years. Between the FY06 Budget resolution and
the new plan announced late Wednesday, the House Education and Workforce Committee
will be required to find approximately $18 billion in cuts. More than $16 billion
in cuts are expected to come from students and the student aid programs.
"America's investment
in affordable higher education is our national 401k plan, Congress is treating
it like it's petty cash," said Luke Swarthout, the State PIRGs' Higher
Education Associate.
In April the Congress instructed
8 committees to make a total of $35 billion in cuts to mandatory programs. The
Education and Workforce Committee received a reconciliation instruction to cut
$12.651 billion in spending over the next six years, making it one of the committees
with the largest cut. In response, the Committee made their first series of
student aid cuts this summer by raising interest rates and cutting borrower
benefits for students. These cuts generated $8.6 billion toward the Committee's
original reconciliation target of $12.6 billion dollars. These cuts could cost
the average student borrower up to $5,800 in additional interest payments at
a time when college costs continue to rise.
"Congress must stop
this raid on student aid," says Eddy Morales, President of the United States
Student Association. "Students across the country are already in an enormous
financial hole and this Congress seems to think they can keep digging deeper."
The Education and Workforce
Committee had already scheduled a markup for next week to make an additional
$2 billion in cuts required under the original budget resolution. Yesterday's
announcement will force the Committee to find an additional $7.5 billion in
cuts from student aid when they meet next week.
