During his campaign in the fall of 2008, President Obama made two promises to the American people: to make college more affordable for all students and to remove lobbyist influence and wasteful spending from Washington. He addresses both these promises in his new plan to invest in education.
Receiving a college education has now become more important than it has ever been in the past. Today, half of the fastest growing job industries in the United States require their applicants to have at least a Bachelor's degree to be even considered for a job position. And those who do not have a college degree are almost guaranteed that they will be unemployed, especially in our current economic situation.
These are difficult times for students as well as their families all over America as we are struggling to keep up with the ever increasing cost of higher education. Although Maryland has instituted a tuition freeze for in-state students, around the country the cost of tuition at private colleges has more than doubled and at private universities, it has nearly tripled. Families can barely keep up with the increasing tuition costs because on average, the cost of tuition has grown ten times faster than a typical family's income.
In order to address this crisis, President Obama has made college affordability and accessibility a priority for his administration. By increasing the availability of Pell Grants and making it possible for working families to be eligible for a $2,500 tax credit, college has become more affordable for 7 million students around the country. Currently, in order to pay for high tuition prices students have had the option of taking out a loan. One type of loan has been the Direct Loan, which allows money to go directly from the federal government to students. The other type of loan usually used by students is the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), which goes through lenders. Under the FFEL program lenders get a large subsidy from the government, which wastes approximately $5 billion a year of taxpayer money. In order to eliminate this wastage, President Obama has taken the initiative to end the FFEL program and to direct this money into the Direct Loan program. The Obama administration has determined that these initiatives will save 4.9 million families $9 billion.
Earlier this year, President Obama stated his goal before a joint session of Congress that by 2020 the United States will have the highest college graduation rate in the world. He believes the first step to accomplishing this goal is to create savings by changing the way loans are offered and given to students.
Over the next decade the government can save tens of billions of dollars simply by eliminating the FFEL program and cutting out banks as middlemen. The money that is saved can instead be invested in expanding Pell Grants, offering tuition tax credits, and launching college completion programs for any student who needs it.
However, it is unlikely that lenders, who make large profits from our current lending system, will go down without a fight. Already, bankers and lenders who are completely opposed to President Obama's initiative are hiring lobbyists as they strategically plan to fight back against the Obama administration.
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