Full-time tuition at Boston University is $37,910, and though many students receive some type of financial aid, for most, the cost of college leaves financial strain that takes many years to pay off.
But there may be hope for those with dismal loan outlooks in President Barack Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2011 budget.
The plan, announced on Feb. 1, includes a revamped education budget that would forgive the debt of students who have been trying to repay federal loans for 20 years, and the debt of those who decide to work in public service after 10 years.
Obama also said he will help make college more affordable by giving a $10,000 tax credit to families paying four years of college and by funding more Pell Grants for low-income students.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan held a conference call with college journalists, including The Daily Free Press, to explain in further detail how the new measures will work and affect college students.
When asked how the government would be able to forgive all the loans and expand the Pell Grants, Duncan said “all of the funding for this would come from the fact that we would simply stop subsidizing banks.”
“Where is our priority? To keep subsidizing banks or helping students?” Duncan said.
“The proposed 2011 budget also incorporates savings from a proposal to end student lending subsidies to banks and shift billions in savings into higher education and early childhood,” stated a Feb. 1 Department of Education release.
“Under the proposed 2011 budget, the maximum Pell Grant increases by $160 to $5,710 and would automatically rise due to inflation by one percentage point annually over the next decade,” the release states.
“The president understands deeply that America’s future depends greatly on the next generation’s education,” Duncan said. “The proposal follows children every step of the way.”
“At a time when most government spending is frozen, the education budget is not.” he said.
The president and Duncan have said they understand the constant need for more students to graduate every year.
“We are trying to focus with a laser-like focus on college graduation,” Duncan said, adding that Obama wants an additional 10 million students to graduate college in the near future.
“Countries that out-educate us today will pass us,” Duncan said.
Community colleges are an important part of this goal, he said.
“Community colleges are the gateway into the workforce,” Duncan said. “We need to support their work to drive quality among the community college system.”
According to The Department press release, the budget includes the $110.6 billion American Graduation Initiative “to improve and modernize community colleges.”
Another way to save money, Duncan said, is online courses, which the Department supports as a way of receiving education while working in one’s own time.
The issue of expensive textbooks was also brought up.
“Textbooks are astronomically expensive and students are unable to live off of student loans alone,” one student said.
Duncan explained that the Department is working on providing money for online sources that students could use for free. This program would go through colleges, who could then in turn allow students to access the resources.
Additionally, Duncan said that the Department “will soon be guiding colleges on how to reduce prices.”
One way to do this with textbooks, for example, would be letting faculty know the prices of the textbooks before assigning them, said to Duncan.
“We’re trying to be as creative and helpful as we can to help students get into college and follow their dreams,” he said.
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