House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a speech Thursday
that if the Democratic party retakes control of the House of
Representatives in the mid-term congressional elections, the
affordability of higher education will be on the top of its
agenda.
This pledge is part of House Democrats’ “New
Direction for America,” which also focuses on making health
care more affordable, lowering gas prices, achieving energy
independence, helping working families, ensuring dignified
retirement and requiring fiscal responsibility, according to
Pelosi’s Web site.
In her speech to Georgetown University students last Thursday,
Pelosi said that if the Democratic party regains the House, it will
cut college costs by implementing a three-point plan.
First, it will work to increase the Pell Grant nearly 25 percent
to $5,100. Currently, the maximum Pell Grant is $4,050.
Second, it hopes to cut interest rates on student loans in half,
lowering the rates to 3.4 percent for loans taken out by students
and 4.25 percent for those taken out by parents.
It also plans to allow a 100 percent tax credit for tuition up
to $3,000, totalling $12,000 over four years for most middle-class
families, according to the House Democrats’ Web site.
Pelosi said House Democrats will have to work to reverse a
Republican higher education policy enacted over the last year.
“This year, Republicans raided federal student aid
programs by $12 billion and raised interest rates on college loans
for parents and students,” Pelosi said.
But at this time, the House Democrats are in the conceptual
stages of their planning. They have not yet addressed some
important details, such as funding.
Gregory Moeck, chairman of the Bruin Republicans, said he would
like to see further detail about how the Democrats plan to fund the
proposals.
“Pelosi, while she proposes an increase in funding,
doesn’t address where the money is going to come from,”
said Moeck, a fourth-year computer science major.
Moeck said it is hard to judge the House Democrats’ plan
because many of the details are still unclear.
In her speech, Pelosi also stressed the idea that education is
integral to U.S. prominence in the global arena.
“Your education is not only important to your
self-fulfillment, it is important and essential to our
competitiveness as a country,” Pelosi said.
Gabe Rose, a third-year political science and communications
student and president of the Bruin Democrats, agrees with Pelosi on
this point.
“I think Pelosi understands that if America wants to keep
competing in a global world, education must be an important
issue,” Rose said.
Rose said he thinks the House Democrats’ plan will help
alleviate debt when students graduate college, allowing them to
have more freedom in choosing a career.
But Moeck said he believes it is important to also ask whether
it is the responsibility of the individual or the government to pay
for college education ““ and whether a plan to put more money
toward education is feasible.
“I think that when UCLA students are confronted with the
question, “˜Would you like to have more money for
college?’ they would say yes,” Moeck said.
“But it is important to move away from the individual
perspective and look at the issue on a larger scale to see whether
or not our society can really afford this,” he said.
Rose said that ensuring an affordable education is important to
college students, so students may be more inclined to vote in the
mid-term elections.