Congress should cut the political maneuvering

Attaining a college degree today is both academically rigorous and financially taxing, but furthering one’s education past high school is necessary to be successful in the world.

The system of aid that is now utilized by the government is a complicated process that does not use the money in its budget as efficiently as possible.

The Rethinking Student Aid Study Group has put forth a landmark series of suggestions to get the money needed by students directly to them in a simplistic manner. These proposals, which were arranged by policy experts, should be taken seriously by Congress even if some points conflict with their political agendas.

The study states that “a central problem of the existing federal aid system is that it has developed piecemeal, with new programs being devised not with an eye to effectiveness and coherence of the system as a whole, but to meet immediate political demands.”  

Inherent within the reforms suggested by the study is a complete overhaul of Pell Grants and a dismissal of some of the programs associated with it.
 
These “add-ons” are designed to attract low-income students into the sciences, teaching and math. Although congress spearheaded these popular programs, the universities themselves have been unimpressed with the results.

The study also suggests getting rid of the Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant and the Federal Perkins Loan from the financial aid system.

Both of these initiatives are supported annually by the Bush Administration, which opposes the replacement of these programs with “block grants” which would reward colleges that enrolled successful Pell Grant-eligible students.  

When it comes to the topic of student aid, the focus should be on getting more students into more universities without saddling them with debt. Injecting politics into the debate just complicates an already convoluted issue.

Congress should be paying attention to what this study has to say and implementing it accordingly without getting caught up in their own personal agendas.