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November 3, 2006 > Opinion > Politicians reveal true colors with cuts to student loans

Politicians reveal true colors with cuts to student loans

By Evan Mintz | Thresher Editorial Staff

As Rice students walk into the voting booths Tuesday, some key phrases may pass through their minds: torture, habeas corpus, wiretapping, stem cells, unitary executive and other issues we did not think we would ever have to debate. But it is often difficult for the average Rice student to care about issues that seem a world away — except for maybe the exchange students who care about their right to a fair trial. However, one key issue has come to the forefront that affects students directly: student loans.

Over the past two years, the Republican controlled Congress has made massive cuts to student loan programs, slashing $13 billion in the programs’ largest cut in history. Republicans claimed this was part of fiscal responsibility, but these loans are an investment — and a wise one at that. Parents who do not have to worry about paying for college can invest their money elsewhere or maintain a level of fiscal solvency. And students who have access to low interest college loans can make sure they do not dig themselves into a lifetime of debt.

Furthermore, by making college available to as many people as possible, we can create a generation of thinkers and educated workers who can not only fulfill the creative demands and technological jobs of the world economy, but who can also ensure the development of new technology that keeps the economy going. For the sake of saving a penny now, Congress is costing us a fortune in the future.

In addition to slashing student loans for the average college student, the Republican Congress put limits on students’ abilities to refinance their loans. Due to a payout that put special interests above education, students may now find themselves locked into high interest loans with a lifetime of payment their only hope for relief. It is somewhat understandable why the Republican Congress made this change. SLM Corp, formerly the semi-public Student Loan Marketing Association, contributed nearly $140,000 via a political action committee to the campaigns of members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee to ensure these changes, which have yielded the company $1 billion in profit from students’ higher payments. With contributions like that, it is no wonder politicians cast aside students.

So while we students do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars on hand to sway politicians especially with cuts in student loans, mind you we can vote. And we should vote the bums out. The Republican Congress that has allowed financially irresponsible cuts to student loans and sold us out to lobbyists does not deserve the vote of a single college student. Luckily, the Democratic Party provides a favorable alternative.

As part of the Democrats’ 100-hour plan a list of objectives for the Democrats’ first hundred hours if they win back the House Congress will cut interest rates on federal student loans in half. Finally, students will have friends in high places. If this is the Democratic policy for just the first hundred hours, America’s students should have a lot more to look forward to.

So when Rice students walk into the voting booths this Tuesday, they should know that this election season, one party has made them a top priority — the Democratic Party.

Evan Mintz is a Hanszen College junior and opinion and Backpage editor.

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