Neil Ambercrombie on College funding

Dear Friends:
The surest path to a bright and prosperous future leads through a college classroom. As the U.S. economy and our industrial environment continue to evolve, tomorrow's jobs and careers are becoming more education-enabled than ever before. That's why I've done everything I could in Congress to open the doors of higher education a little wider for everyone. This includes the Post 9/11 GI Bill of Rights, which is making it possible for new generations of active duty military, Reserves and National Guard veterans to go to school. In August, we expanded it to cover tuition at any of the ten private schools in Hawaii. We haven't found the silver bullet to make college cost less, so we've expanded financial resources so more people can afford it. That financial assistance is critical for many in Hawaii. At UH- Manoa, 53% of the students receive some form of financial aid: 19% qualify for federal grants, 13% obtain school-based grants and about 29% of the students take out student loans. In fact, 91,937 Hawaii students haven taken out federal loans in the last ten years alone (Financial aid statistics from the University of Hawaii-Manoa). Cathy Bio, College Financial Aid Administrator at Maui Community and former president of the Pacific Financial Aid Association, said, "The federal student loan program is critical for today's student - the student who works while going to school; the student in a two-income family that returns to school for re-training purposes. The program provides students with the opportunity to get loans without existing or good credit, and offers manageable repayment options. It makes higher education more affordable and viable for today's students." Yet, the terrible economic straits our country is in have made paying for college even more of a struggle for working families. So the House took another important step, changing the way college loans are made to bring down interest rates and, at the same time, make more funds available for Pell Grants. You and I have been paying billions of dollars in subsidies to banks to make student loans, which are guaranteed by the federal government and pose no risk at all for the lender. I cosponsored the Student Aid and Financial Responsibility Act to cut these subsidies and move the savings into direct loans from the U. S. Department of Education, which are cheaper, and into expanding the Pell Grant program for low income students. About 14,000 Hawaii students received Pell Grants this year. The legislation would make more than 24 thousand eligible in the 2010 academic year. And, the maximum grant will increase from $5350 this year to $5,550 in 2010, and to $6,900 by 2019. We did it with by cutting unnecessary subsidies to banks, and with no increase in federal spending. It will really pay off for college students and their families.

Sincerely,
Neil AbercrombieMember of Congress