BYU students may have to start scrambling to come up with tuition money for next semester.
Congress narrowly passed the Budget Reconciliation Bill with a 217-215 vote Friday, cutting more than $14 billion in student aid and federal student loans to assist in covering hurricane damage costs.
Passing with just two crucial votes, both Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) and Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) supported the bill. Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson voted against it.
The bill seeks to cut a total of $50 billion from the federal budget by reorganizing a variety of programs, including Medicaid, food stamps and pension insurance, in addition to student loans. It also makes less money available for Pell Grants.
“I’m baffled myself as to why they’re doing this,” said Leland Page, president of the American Student Association of Community Colleges. “Student loans should be the last thing they cut if they want our economy to succeed.”
With these cuts, students could lose anywhere from $300 to $500 of their financial aid per semester. At $175 per credit hour at BYU, that means students depending on aid would have to take two or three less credits each semester.
Simultaneously, tuition at BYU is increasing next year by $100 per semester for LDS students and $1,000 for non-LDS students, according to the Financial Services office. Coupled with less available financial aid could leave many students in a precarious situation.
“Any cut in financial aid is so detrimental to students because they have to take less classes or take a part time role in a job and they’re not going to be as productive in class because they’re not going to have as much time to study,” said Justin Pahl, National Vice President of Advocacy of American Student Association of Community Colleges. “It’s really cutting the future of America.”
Students who already have loans aren’t safe either. The bill could increase interest rates on existing student loans, and make it more difficult for students to be approved for additional aid.
BYU student Connor Boyack, a senior from Poway, Calif, said this could be difficult for students.
“I think for a lot of people who are struggling financially, it’s basically cutting the floor out from underneath them,” Boyack said.
Boyack works full-time while attending school full-time. He has a Pell Grant and student loans because he is completely financially independent of his parents. Boyack is worried about how the bill will affect him.
“I would be pretty concerned just because I’ve come to depend on that as a source of income, a source of being able to put myself through school, and I’d really have to rework my budget if they were to reduce that or get rid of that altogether,” Boyack said. “I’d really have to rethink my priorities without financial aid and see what I could afford and what I couldn’t afford.”
The average undergraduate debt is now more than $17,000, according to the U.S. Student Association. Students often work 30 hours a week or more while going to school, and over 60 percent of undergraduates say they would not be able to attend college if they did not work.
Megan Powell, a senior from Clovis, Calif., juggles a full credit load, interns 10 hours a week and works 20 hours a week at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. She also has a student loan to pay for her tuition.
“If I didn’t have a loan, I wouldn’t be able to go to school,” Powell said. “I had to drop out one semester for that reason.” Powell said the money earned from her job goes toward rent and groceries.
“I’ve worked up to 30 hours a week and gone to school,” she said. “That was the most insane, busy semester of my life.”
Powell said she felt having to work long hours that semester forced her to miss out on being a part of campus activities.
“Anything extracurricular was out of the question,” Powell said. “I had to prioritize, even with homework assignments, I had to pick and choose which ones were the most important.”
Powell said she feels her grades in school would increase without having to worry about holding down a job.
“I’d definitely be able to do better in school if I didn’t have to work because one year I got a grant for both semesters and it was great,” Powell explained. “I could focus better because it took such a weight off my shoulders. I didn’t have tuition hanging over my head.”
In the past 15 years, tuition and fees have outpaced inflation and growth in the median family income, according to a report written by Nathan Walker for the Financial Aid Research Network Conference.
Walker is the executive director of a student movement that is trying to organize the National Tuition Endowment. The project wants to wants to return the money generated from interest payments on students loans to the students for more financial aid. Currently, the billions of dollars in interest goes into a general use fund at the National Treasury.
Through the Budget Reconciliation Bill, the average student borrower may have to pay almost $6,000 in additional interest payments, Walker said.
“We will watch public officials use our debt to pay the government’s debt,” Walker said. “Debt upon debt is not the answer.”
Walker said the answer is to give the money back to students.
Justin Pahl uses taxes on tires as an example of how the endowment would function. The money paid on tire taxes can only be used for highway use or roadway construction. It directly helps the industry it taxes.
“We want to use that same principle and build new students for the United States,” Pahl explained.
Pahl encourages students to call their congressman and share their views about what would happen to them if their financial aid were cut.
“Tell them your story because everything comes down to local politics,” Pahl said. “A story is going to grab them much more than any statistics.”
How to stop budget cuts on student aid:
Call 1-800-574-4243 and give your zip code or the name of your congressmen to be directed right to their office.
www.tuitionendowment.org
Copyright Brigham Young University 22 Nov 2005
