Free Republic

House Republicans are proposing to revamp federal student loan programs by putting caps on how much students and parents can borrow even as they call for simplifying the application process. The student aid provisions are part of a massive rewrite of higher education legislation introduced by Republican Reps. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, chair of the House Committee on Education, and Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, chairman of the panel’s higher education subcommittee. “Unfortunately, today’s chaotic maze of federal aid programs, requirements and red tape has driven up college costs and made pursuing and finishing a postsecondary education unworkable for far...

Academia loves to dress up its appeal to international students in uplifting prose but a veteran professor suggests the move may be more than just a bit calculated towards self-preservation. “The historiography of education is very boring,” Wilfred McClay of Oklahoma University said at the Philadelphia Society’s regional meeting in Indianapolis last weekend. “It’s always crisis.” The Philadelphia Society is a group of conservative intellectuals that was formed in the wake of the Goldwater defeat in 1964. “Where would the students come from to fill those magnificent buildings constructed since V-J day?” Dr. McClay asked at the Indianapolis confab. “It...

Since his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama has been campaigning in touring five battleground states. His final stop on that tour comes today. At a rally at the University of Michigan, the president plans to unveil a plan to increase federal “investment” in the Perkins loan program — from $1 billion to $8 billion — and to revamp the formula for distributing the money. The Washington Post has a few more details: Under the plan, colleges would be rewarded based on their success in offering relatively lower tuition prices, providing value and serving low-income students, the White...

Nanny-state student-aid programs significantly contribute to the ballooning cost of college tuition. So says a report out this month from the Center for College Affordabilty and Productivity. Executive Summary Financial aid programs are supposed to improve access and affordability in higher education. The effectiveness of these programs is increasingly being questioned as college attainment figures stagnate and the financial burden on students and families continues to climb year after year. This report identifies the main culprit for this unsatisfactory state of affairs as a misunderstanding of the effect of financial aid on schools. Currently, financial aid programs take costs per...

WASHINGTON - The Senate passed a bill early Friday to increase aid to college students. The bill would give more money to Pell grant recipients, who are among the poorest. They get a maximum award of $4,310 annually now, but that would be bumped up to $5,400 by 2011. To pay for the proposal, lawmakers would cut roughly $18 billion in federal subsidies to banks that issue government-backed student loans. Budget rules require that more than $700 million of that savings go toward reducing the federal deficit, but the rest would go to student benefits. "This legislation does not cost...

After Marisa Garcia was busted for possessing a pipe with marijuana residue, she pleaded guilty, paid a $415 fine and thought she had paid her debt to society. She was wrong: When she applied for federal financial aid to attend Cal State Fullerton, she learned she was ineligible because of the misdemeanor conviction. "I was thinking I made this horrible mistake which is going to ruin my access to education," said Garcia, 25, of Santa Fe Springs. The sociology major's mother is refinancing her home mortgage to help pay Garcia's fees . "You've already been punished and now you get...

Neal McCluskey is an education policy analyst at the Cato Institute. American higher education is getting dangerously fat. Unfortunately, the federal government's idea of a diet is to feed colleges more and cut back on their exercise. The signs of bloat are clear. According to a recent report from the College Board, between 2004 and 2005 — what seems like the hundredth straight year — the average price of tuition grew faster than inflation. Consider some of the recent binges the money went to pay for: American University president Benjamin Ladner, whose $633,000 salary and substantial university-owned house apparently weren't...