The House is scheduled to vote Feb. 1 on a package that includes student aid cuts. If passed, the policy also would raise interest rates for parent loans from 7.9 percent to 8.5 percent and fix student loans at an interest rate of 6.8 percent.

George Miller, (D-CA) points out “Congress has actually forced families to pay more for college”. It’s hard to disagree.

President Bush disagreed at his forum at Kansas State earlier this week:

STUDENT: $12.7 billion dollars was cut from education. And I was just wanting to know: How is that supposed to help our futures?

BUSH: At the federal level?

STUDENT: Yes.

BUSH: I don't think we've actually -- for higher education?

QUESTION: Student loans.

BUSH: Student loans?

QUESTION: Yes, student loans.

It hasn’t happened, yet. Actually, the House has to vote on a reconciliation bill, set for February 1, when Congress comes back into session. In December the House passed a spending bill to raise loan interest rates. The Senate passed a similar bill 51-50 with Vice President Cheney providing the deciding vote.

President Bush claimed later in the exchange that the loan program is being “reformed” to make it “more efficient.” While it is true that the federal government will be recouping the difference between market and legislated rates and using it for deficit reduction, the vast majority of cuts will be borne by the borrowing students and their families.

The typical college student graduates with $17,500 in loans. The new rates will raise the cost of repayment by $5800. Apparently it's more efficient to balance the budget on the backs of students and their parents.