[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 83 (Thursday, May 18, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5357-H5358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  HOW BUDGET AND RESCISSION BILL AFFECT PROGRAMS FOR OUR STUDENTS AT 
                       UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, much of the debate today and yesterday 
about the budget and also the rescissions bill focused on programs for 
seniors, particularly Medicare and also Medicaid to the extent that it 
also impacts senior citizens, and I had previously spoken on the floor 
and stated emphatically how part of my opposition to the budget was 
based on the fact that it does have significant cuts in Medicare and 
how that will negatively impact our senior citizens. What I wanted to 
speak about today very briefly though are the parts of the budget, as 
well as the rescissions bill that we voted on today, that affect 
programs for students at our universities and or colleges.
  Mr. Speaker, I happened to have a forum during the April break at 
Rutgers University, which is in my district, and at the forum a number 
of students expressed concern with the cost of higher education, how 
tuition continues to rise, how difficult it is not only at private 
schools, but also at public schools such as Rutgers University, to 
continue to meet educational expenses and how many students 
increasingly have to simply drop out of school because they cannot 
afford to pay the cost of higher education.
  I say to my colleagues, ``If you look at the two resolutions or bills 
that we passed today, in one case the budget and in the other case the 
rescissions bill, both of them in my opinion rely too heavily on cuts 
in programs for higher education, particularly as it affects students 
who are looking for scholarships, grants or student loans. The budget 
itself actually assumes a change in the current law to require college 
students to pay interest on student loans while they are still in 
school. Many students rely on Stafford loans or guaranteed student 
loans to pay for their colleges education or to pay for a significant 
portion of it.''
  Mr. Speaker, part of the problem is that under this budget measure 
the assumption is that while the students are at school they will have 
to pay back the interest on the loans. It is variously estimated, 
depending on how long you stay in school, for example, for 
undergraduate education, if you were to take the maximum student loan 
over the course of the four years, that you would end up paying as much 
as 20 percent more for your student loan after you graduate. If you 
defer your higher education and go to graduate school or professional 
school, the cost of that interest could even be higher as a percentage 
of what you have to pay back.
  The rescission bill today also makes some significant rescissions or 
cuts, if you will, in Pell grants, which are grants that students 
receive to go to college who tend to be lower income, and also rescinds 
other additional money that is available for Federal direct student 
loans.
  Now some people have said to me, ``Well, what does it matter, 
Congressman Pallone, that you know students have to pay more for their 
student loans or they don't get as much money for grants or 
scholarships? After all, they can always go out and work for a 
[[Page H5358]] few years and then come back to college later.'' But I 
think that is ignoring two realities. One is that increasingly the cost 
of higher education is such that it is not that easy to take time off, 
and make up the money, and then go back to school; and, secondly, that
 we are in a world where we are competing with other countries, and, if 
we have to set up the higher education system where many of our 
students have to defer going to college for a number of years before 
they can go because they have to work on the private sphere in order to 
pay for it, well, we are losing people, a lot of people, who would 
otherwise receive a higher education and be a productive member of the 
work force in the career that they have chosen and perhaps that they 
will be best at.

  I also think it ignores the fact that in the last 29 or 30 years many 
of us were able to take advantage, including myself, of these student 
loan programs and grants programs, and now we are seeing those of 
future generations will not be able to take advantage of them. I think 
it is a mistake on our part to cut back on funding for higher 
education. You have to think about educating our students and educating 
our fellow Americans. If we do not provide that commitment that has 
been traditionally provided for the last generation or two to pay and 
provide Federal help for higher education the way we have, then it 
really says a lot about the value of education in our society. It says 
we do not value it very much.
  So, even though both measures, both the budget and the rescission 
bill passed today; I did vote against both of them in part because of 
the impact on Medicare and Medicaid on senior citizens, but also in a 
major part because of the effect on higher education, and the student 
loans, and the student grants that so many of our students increasingly 
depend upon.

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