January 11, 2007: National Day to Make College Affordable

The Campaign for College Affordability, a national coalition, plans to lobby Congress tomorrow in order to demand action from the new leadership with regard to increasing the affordability of college for all. Citing the rising costs of college each year coupled with "massive cuts" in student aid at the hands of the last Congress, the campaign has started a group on Facebook, a popular social networking site among college students, in order to gain support for the cause.

The rally on Capitol Hill comes during a busy week for the 109th Congress as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D) outlines a Democrat-led legislative agenda for the first 100 hours. The coalition cites the effects of young voters on last November's elections as the reason for the new Congress to take action now.

"In 2006, young voters came out in force and helped elect a new Congress. Now, we deserve the attention of this new Congress on one of the biggest issues we face: the rising cost of higher education," said the Campaign via their website, www.collegeaffordabilitynow.org. "We helped to put new lawmakers in office, and it's time for them to promote opportunity for us all by making college more affordable!"

Pelosi's agenda includes a bill that would cut the interest rate for subsidized Stafford student loans in half. However, the Campaign for College Affordability is calling for further action from Congress.

"We support this proposal as an important first step," they said. "In addition to supporting the current proposed legislation to cut Stafford loan interest rates in half, the coalition advocates a four-point plan to increase access to higher education."

The four-point plan includes the following: increase funding for federal student aid programs; specifically, increase the Pell Grant award for low-income students to $5,100 per year, cut interest rates in half on all student loans, promote debt management programs (including income-sensitive repayment and loan forgiveness options), and boost competition for loans to provide parents and students more options and better rates.

The Campaign for College Affordability is calling on all college students to participate. They plan to announce the total number of Facebook group members at their scheduled press conference in Washington, D.C. tomorrow. As of publication, the total enrollment of the Facebook group had reached more than 24,000 members. In addition, they encourage students to visit their website and send a signed letter to their representatives in Congress advocating the four-point plan and pushing for immediate action by approving the 50 percent cut in loan interest rates.

Reactions from students belonging to the Facebook group varied, but most are in support of the Campaign's plan.

"I am so glad that this is happening, because the way things are going I'm going to be at least $30,000 in debt by the time I graduate," said Adia Grigsby from Lindsey Wilson College. "I could barely afford high school, and now college tuition and books are costing me a fortune."

However, other students in the group had concerns as to whether increasing the affordability of college will apply to students from higher-income families.

"While this may seem like a good idea, it is impossible for the government to make effective decreases in the cost of education for every student," said MaryEllen Riffle from Sacred Heart Academy. "What will instead happen is that those considered to be underneath the wealthy class, those with a total family income of under $100,000 dollars, will receive the tuition cuts. Everyone else will only see either the stagnation of the price of tuition, the denial of scholarships based on merit, or the increase in the cost of tuition. Wen petitioning Cngress to decrease the cost of education, we must be careful to make sure that we say tuition cuts for EVERYONE. I we fail to do that, then we may only let matters get worse."