http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co … id=topnewsIf adopted, they could transform the financial aid landscape for millions of students while expanding federal authority to a degree that even Democrats concede is controversial.
At stake is a plan to expand the Pell Grant program, making it an entitlement akin to Medicare and Social Security. Key to the effort is a consolidation of student lending that would give the U.S. Department of Education a near monopoly over the practice -- a proposal that has mobilized the private loan industry, which lent $55.3 billion to 6.4 million students in the 2007-2008 school year.
Obama outlined his initiatives, which also include incentives for colleges to cut costs and to raise graduation rates, in the fiscal 2010 budget that Congress approved Wednesday, and Democratic leaders said they hope to make them law by October.
The aim is to improve access to post-secondary school for those who need it most: lower-income students for whom college or vocational training can be the decisive factor in their economic future. The president has said he wants the United States to lead the world by 2010 in the proportion of college graduates, a position the country had long held; it now ranks seventh for the 25 to 34 age group. He has also called for every American to attend a post-secondary institution.
Neither goal will be met if students can't afford the cost.
Mixed feeling on this one. It would be a smart investment, getting people into colleges so that they have a good education and can contribute better in the future. But at the same time I would rather the money go to the middle class families with the kid with just average grades rather then a lower class family with a kid with less then average grades. But I'm from a middle class family with average grades (3.5 GPA ) so I'm a bit biased. So everyone's thoughts?
