Budget bill calls for changes in student aid

By Holly Morris
Assistant Editor

Uncle Sam has his hand on your wallet — but whether he’s trying to protect it or pick it depends on your outlook.

As the Iraq war and Katrina rebuilding efforts send the federal budget into deeper deficit, Congress is trying to offset some of the costs by making cuts in areas considered more flexible than defense or disaster relief — areas like education. Pending legislation includes measures that some education lobbyists are calling the largest cuts in the history of financial aid.

A bill that passed in the U.S. Senate on Nov. 3 and one scheduled to go through the House of Representatives last week both include measures regarding federal student aid as part of the overall budget reconciliation.

Students nationwide are taking action with protests and letter-writing campaigns to fight the cuts. Creighton Students Union passed a resolution Monday expressing its opposition to any decreases in government aid.

“As students, we do not support the cutting of financial aid,” said Heidi Blissenbach, CSU president and Business senior. “If you want students to make a difference, we need an education.”

Robert Walker, director of Financial Aid at Creighton, said that students will most likely feel the effects of aid cuts when they consolidate their loans upon graduation.

“If you apply for a loan next year, you’re not going to feel a thing,” Walker said. “It’s the lenders, the providers of the loans, that get the subsidies that would be cut.”

Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said he graduated from Creighton’s Law School in 1987 with student loans, but supports the budget reconciliation measure, including the proposed changes to financial aid funding.

“We’re just trying to do some basic, common-sense reform,” Terry said. “The $14 billion to $15 billion cut takes all of its savings out of loopholes where lenders were making their money.”

Complicating the aid issue is the fact that the Senate included reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in its reconciliation bill while the House of Representatives has a separate bill for that, H.R. 609.

Cyndy Littlefield, a lobbyist for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, said that due to more pressing concerns, the House probably will not vote on H.R. 609 before its scheduled adjournment Nov. 18. Instead, reauthorization is likely to come up next year, she said.

For now, Walker and Littlefield encourage students to contact their representatives and explain how financial aid affects them personally. To contact your representative, visit www.house.gov/writerep.