At about 1:30 a.m. this morning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget that may significantly cut college students' financial aid packages.
Despite House Democrats' opposition of the spending-cuts bill, the resolution passed by a vote of 217-215.
The bill, which would take effect in fiscal year 2006, must now be reconciled in conference commmittee between House and Senate negotiators.
According to Director of Student Aid Stephen Joyce, the proposed cuts would affect colleges in four ways.
First, Congress is considering moving the surplus from the Pell Grant program to other sectors of the government. If the money were reinvested back into the Pell Grant program, the maximum Pell Grant could be increased by $260 to $4,310.
"This would go a long way to making sure students could pay off their debts," Joyce said of the reinvestment scenario.
The proposed budget would also take federal funds that currently go to Northeast colleges and shift them to colleges in the South and Southwest, where the U.S. student population is growing. Joyce acknowledged that the move, called Fair Share, made sense, though it would hurt Bowdoin and other Maine colleges.
The budget could also raise interest rates on lenders, making it more difficult for students to repay debt.
However, Joyce said that some good may come out of the new budget. The Stafford Loan limits for first and second year students may increase from $2,625 to $3,500 for first years and $3,500 to $4,500 for second year students, he said.
Joyce said that a number of factors were combined to produce a need for cuts.
"The war in Iraq, the budget deficit, Hurricane Katrina, Bush's tax breaks—all these things put a strain on the feds," he said. "It leaves no room for extra money toward higher education."
Joyce said that the College has communicated with Maine's U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. He also noted that students have raised awareness of the cuts, with a campaign slogan of "Stop the Raid on Student Aid."
Student aid activist Sara Schlotterbeck '08 commented on the budget.
Calling the cuts a "really important issue," Schlotterbeck said that students need to defend aid themselves.
"If anyone is going to speak up about this, it has to be the students," she said. "Pay attention to the news. If you see something about proposed cuts in student aid, write or call your state representatives."
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EDITOR'S NOTE: A version of this story posted online and printed in the Orient incorrectly stated that the bill now moves to the U.S. Senate. In addition, the headline incorrectly implied the vote dealt with a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The web version of the story has been changed to correct these errors.
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