Overview
Higher education in America continues to be critical
for both individual success and the economic and political health of our
country. While college attendance has grown over the past two decades, state
and federal aid has failed to keep pace with the rising cost of higher
education. As a result, more students than ever must rely on student loans to
pay for a four-year degree and start their post-collegiate lives with
significant debt.
Over the past two decades undergraduate student
loans have supplanted grant aid as the primary way students finance their
college education. In 1999-2000, the average student loan debt for a full-time
student at a four-year institution was $16,928, up from $9,188 in 1992-93. An
increased reliance on student loans has resulted in a growing number of
debt-ridden graduates entering the workforce. In 2004, two-thirds of all
four-year college graduates left school with student debt. Student loan debt
can limit post-collegiate career options like teaching and social work. In the
most extreme cases, burdensome debt can lead some students to default,
resulting in wage garnishment and ruined credit.
In February of 2006, Congress passed the largest
cut to higher education in the history of federal student aid. This “raid on
student aid” took approximately $12 billion out of the federal student loan
programs to help finance additional tax cuts for some of the wealthiest
Americans.
In 2007, Congress passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act,
which cut $19 billion of excessive student lender subsidies to pay for
increased financial aid. Specifically, the bill lowered the interest
rate on student loans, increased grant aid, and created two new student
loan repayment programs aimed at helping graduates take lower paying
but socially valuable careers.
On February 17, 2009, President
Obama passed the economic recovery package which invested $15 billion
in Pell grant aid, created a higher education tax credit that is
partially refundable for lower income families, and increased work
study programs.
WashPIRG is working to ensure that all students
have access to an affordable education and that Congress prioritizes
college affordability this year.
