A friend of mine is a member of a professional organization of College admissions counselors. He passed along to me that in the legislative fury of the past couple of days, two of awful bills have passed the House, and are about to be voted on before the US Senate. The long and short of it is that College is about to, yet again, become more out of reach for everyday Americans.
They are asking people to take 60 seconds, and let their Senators know what to do. This is especially critical if you live in a State with a Senator up for election in 06.
Take 60 seconds and let them know... And the full message on why the bills are so terrible is below the fold.
This week Congress will finally complete work on fiscal year 2006 education funding. Over the weekend several devastating votes in the House have left a pair of bad bills waiting for Senate approval.
Senators will be faced with two major decisions that will affect education spending in 2006:
Appropriations Bill: The education funding bill for FY2006 has level-funded all of NACAC members' priority programs at last year's levels. The maximum Pell Grant will stay at $4,050 for the fourth year in a row, even as more students become eligible every year and college grows more expensive. On top of stagnant funding, the House voted over the weekend in favor of a 1% across-the-board cut to pay for disaster relief and deficit reduction.
Reconciliation Bill: The House also approved over the weekend a $40 billion reconciliation package, with one-third of the "savings" coming from deep cuts to the student loan programs, which will make loans more expensive for student and parent borrowers. Reconciliation is an attempt to reduce federal spending to decrease the deficit and save money to fund tax cuts.
Contact our Senators using NACAC's Legislative Action Center at
http://redir.targetx.com/...
and tell them to vote against the cuts to education contained in the appropriations and reconciliation bills. Ask them to make investment in education their top priority. Remember, in just a minute or two you can take action!