Friday, September 18, 2009
House Passes The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act
The Gavel: "This afternoon, the House passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (HR 3221) by a vote of 253-171. The bill ensures that higher education is more affordable at no additional expense to taxpayers – in fact, it saves money. More students will go to college, they will graduate with less debt, and the federal loan initiatives that they and their families depend upon will be strengthened for decades to come."
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11 comments:
I think this is great because students trying to go to college shouldn't be hindered by finances. There's so many talented and hardworking students who should be going to college but can't because of financial difficulties, so I'm glad this situation is starting to change.
It's good to hear that in these hard financial times the government is trying to do something to allow more kids to afford college. There are a lot of kids who aren't able to go to college, but have the skills and the talent. The fact that something is being done to help these kids out is great.
I wonder if this will apply to people already in school or recent grads with big loans. I was just in a teach for america info session where they spoke about the great difference in american education and how most people in the lower portion of our economic structure never go to college because they can't afford it at all. which leads them to earn 1 million dollars less in their lifetimes than a college grad would on average. thats a lot of money. hopefully this act will help out!
I think that this is greet for the people that are going to state schools. i dont think that this will apply to cmu since we are a privit school and we run on a different system of the way the money works. it would be nice if we could get some of this money since our tuition is one of the highest in the nation. i know of people that can benefit form this and that people are not going to collage because they can not afforded going to college. so i am glead that they are giving more money to higher ejection.
I'm really glad to see that so many new changes in grants/loans/dues especially pertaining to colleges are being revised in response to the recession, for instance, I pay dues per semester to participate in student activities and there were national policies implemented to reduce the dues because of the recession, i think its especially important to help students in difficult situations (financially) because like Nancy Pelosi said in her speech, there is no greater investment than education.
I'm glad to hear that there is something happening to help students financially. It is extremely unfortunate the number of really talented and intelligent people that are unable to pursue a degree simply because they do not have the financial means to do so. After going through the long process of trying to receive grants and aid this past year, it's good to hear it may be becoming a bit easier to obtain.
Thank goodness this thing got passed so quickly! I'm happy to see that some of Obama's education reform, even though it's emphasis on cutting spending and saving money, is taking effect.
While it does only apply to state schools, this still allows many people opportunities that they wouldn't have had otherwise. I wonder what sort of statistics will be coming out in the coming years as to how many lower-class students are going to college. I hope that the number surprises everyone, especially those in legislation, and encourages them to pass more in favor of education reform.
While this is a great step, it's the first, and I hope that people will see that this type of reform has positive effects passed lowered spending, and that legislation is passed to help students even more.
This certainly sounds like a move in the right direction. I have, however heard two bits of seemingly valid criticism though. Firstly, it appears to have made penalties even harsher for students with drug-related offenses (even misdemeanors) to get aid. The penalties used to be one year, two years, and then indefinite ineligibleity. The first offense is now two and the second is now indefinite. As best I can tell, there is no such provision for violent crime.
Secondly, according to some reports, on the order of ten percent of the money is allotted to go to 'green' building and school modernization. TO my mind we need to increase access to the schools we have, not try to make them even fancier. Does it maybe make sense to invest a bit more in the people right now an a bit less in the institutions?
It's great that this act was passed. College is so expensive and whatever they can do to cut these costs is great. There are so many people who can't afford to go to college, but deserve to and hopefully this act will help these students have the ability to attend college. Families are in so much debt because they are sending their kids to college, and it isn't fair that people should have to choose finances or college.
Its sad how many bright, talented young people don't even think about CMU because of the sticker price. I know we fund a lot of research, and I see where all of our money is going, but sometimes I feel like our money isn't being spent as wisely as I would like. Maybe this bill will get the university thinking about being a little more financially realistic in the coming years.
Articles like this always make me wonder is why this kind of legislation is only happening now. I understand that something bad normally has to happen for something good to happen, but this is the kind of act that you'd think would've wound up being enacted once it became almost mandatory to go to college. The fact that part of the bill gives money to the colleges for green programs is nice, but I'm pretty sure given the financial times most students would rather more financial aid and less new construction on energy efficient systems.
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