Northeastern University president Joseph Aoun is beseeching other college presidents to stand up in favor of the Federal Perkins Loan Program, enacted in 1958 to help students pay for secondary education through low-interest loans. The program is set to expire in 2014 and hasn’t received government funding since 2004, but colleges nationwide continue to use the program as a means of helping students pay their way through four or more years of school.
In 2010, 10 percent of BU students received Perkins loans, amounting to $6 million total. Without the loan program, these thousands of students would have experienced difficulty paying for tuition and might have had to settle for less prestigious universities. Federal assistance can make a huge difference in an aspiring student’s life and transform him or her into a financially sound member of society. In light of the economic recession, the Department of Education should concentrate on making good investments that turn out profit.
President Barack Obama has been intent on making the American education system more competitive and promised to make the nation’s graduation rate the world’s best by 2020. If his administration doesn’t increase funds to the program, it will signify a discrepancy between what the president says for popularity’s sake and what the president actually plans to enact. Understandably, certain programs should be scaled back to decrease debt and overspending.
While elementary and middle school education in the U.S. is heading down a slippery slope, forcing politicians and public figures to come out in favor of more science and math-related curriculums, the secondary education system continues to be the envy of the world regardless of growing expenses. With the federal government’s financial support, academic competition will increase – and thereby, productivity will as well.
Essentially, the federal government should be responsible for seeing that every ambitious high school student gets as much monetary support as they merit under certain conditions. At the same time, would-be or current scholars should take it upon themselves to recognize the relationship between their collegiate tenure and federal loans instead of simply expecting assistance, or worse, being utterly unaware of what they can accomplish with the correct momentum. The president may have promised to increase graduation rates, but most of the responsibility lies on the graduate to make it all the way to the stage.
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