At, the government pays 70 percent of such a students earnings.received almost $3 million in this funding last year, according to Institutional Research and Planning, while it paid only $1 million for those wages,said.
Expanding the work-study program is exciting to me, he said. The only reason its not bigger than 125 students, quite honestly, is we dont have enough
If you cant stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down, Obama said.
Potential Impact
Tuition is too high at most schools, but it isnt the job of the federal government to punish those schools, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Higher Education subcommittee, told The New York Times last week. Its very arbitrary, and the president sounds like a dictator.
Increase Perkins Loans Funding
You can help a lot more people with what the presidents proposing than by putting the same dollars in Pell, he said, though he was quick to add that we need both.
Make Interest Rates Low and Tax Breaks High
Unlike the Perkins proposal, this idea wont pay for itself.was supportive of the proposal, partly because the impact of work-study can spread. For example,said, 125 students currently tutor in seven local elementary schools.
We want to do that in ways that dont compromise the quality of the educational experience, Munier said.
That aid includes Perkins loans, work-study jobs and supplementary grants that go to the lowest-income students. A colleges funding for these programs would depend on its control of tuition if Obamas proposal becomes law. He suggested streamlining programs to control tuition.
Munier speculated that the hammer would ll harder on for-profit universities,technical schools mn where tuition increases arent limited by politics and public approval like at a public university.
While delivering that warning, Obama also announced proposals to increase the federal funding universities can use and make student loans cheaper to pay back. Its all to make college more affordable, Obama said, at a time when student debt is more than the countrys credit card debt and income inequality is at historic levels as the economy slowly turns back from the recession.
They must be going to look at schools that would qualify for Perkins if they had enough money,said of the administration. Theres some desire … to get federal dollars moved around to where theyre most needed today instead of where they were most needed in
Through this program, an eligible student whos then hired by the university will have most of his or her wages patechnical schools mn Daily Nebraskanid by the government, that student more attractive to cash-strapped departments.
That sounds like a good idea to me, said Shelby Koenig, a freshman biochemistry major. I would say getting a college education is important. I think the government should do what they can to make sure everyone has the
It gives them an advantage,said, though its not a guaranteed job. Its a hunting license for jobs on campus, and sometimes in the
Obama also wants to double the number of work-study positions available on campuses around the country during the next five years.
Because much of the presidents proposed increases include partial matching or funding by individual universities, each dollar in this plan has a bigger splash than other possibilities, Munier said.
technical schools mn Daily Nebraskan,We cant just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; well run out of money, he said in the State of the Union, calling college attendance and affordability an economic
Im not sure I see it happening, said Josiah Fuchser, a senior dietetics major. Not a lots getting done with Congress and Obama &8212; they dont work together very well.
And while UNLs tuition has increased by about 5 percent each year for the past four years, the university stands well within the Big Ten Conference. Only the University of Wisconsin has lower in-state tuition, while UNLs out-of-state tuition is lower than all but Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota.
If every student received the maximum $2,900, more than 1,000 studentsfrom the program last year. If the money were doubled, the student count likely would as well, thoughadded that the few who reach that $2,900 limit might be considered for more.
Because the loans dont need much replenishment once they get rolling, the Obama administration has said this measure wouldnt raise the federal budget.
, a junior nutrition and health sciences major from Pennsylvania who said she receives federal grants to help pay out-of-state tuition, put her support even more bluntly. If it makes tuition more affordable, yeah, of course, she said with a laugh.
The federal funding in question doesnt include the aid that goes directly to students, like standard Stafford loans or Pell grants. It instead comes from campus-based aid, which goes to colleges first to be given out to students.
Obama also called on Congress to extend the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which began in 2010 and is worth up to $10,000 in four years toward tuition costs for relatively low-income students. Some credit is available even if a student owes no taxes. That credit is set to expire this December.
hasnt received any major new Perkins funding from the government in years, said Craig, the director of the Office of Scholarship and Financial Aid, in an interview, because the loans replenish themselves.
Double the Work-Study Program
Obamas proposals also spread beyond campus-based aid to the standard Stafford loans. Subsidized Stafford loans, available only to undergraduates after Congressional changes last summer, have had their interest rates steadily lowered over the past several years from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent.
We have continued in this state to have a great interest in keeping tuition as low as possible, and thats not a new idea, said Christine Jackson, UNLs vice chancellor of business and finance. No ones waking up in Nebraska thinking, ‘Oh, weve got to be cost-effective.
Students here were somewhat pessimistic on the bills future.
Obama will likely ce a larger enemy in Congressional Republicans, who have become notorious for resisting his legislative agenda. He simplified loans and lowered interest for some students last year by executive order &8212; this time, thats not an option.
Obamas proposal includes and increasing Perkins loans funding from $1 billion to $8 billion, which would raise the number of participating universities from 1,700 to 4,000.
In his State of the Union address last Tuesday and again at the University of Michigan Friday, President Barack Obama sent a message directly to universities across the country, including the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Keep tuition under control, or get less federal funding.
All were doing is loaning the money that people pay back,said of Perkins loans, one of the first federal student aid programs. In the 2010-2011 academic year, the university gave out $1.4 million in those loans to more than 1,200 students.
Presidential Politics
But the threat of cutting federal funding from schools that dont keep tuition down might be small for not-for-profit universities like UNL. Last year, the funding for campus-based aid to UNL amounted to just over $3 million, small change when compared to an overall budget of more than $1 billion.
That cut expires next year, meaning unless Obama gets his way in Congress, interest on student loans will double.
While his ideas are in the beginning stages, however, Obama has found some support already here at, where about 60 percent of students borrow money for college.
Nationally, the government paid colleges and universities nearly $1 billion in 2011 in work-study funds, according to the. Department of Education.
Around the country, many education officials reacted with caution or alarm at Obamas proposals, with some saying that a push for quicker, leaner programs could hurt quality.
The Perkins Loan Program was one of the first student aid programs put in place by the federal government. These loans are given out by universities liketo students with exceptional need, and have a fixed interest rate of 5 percent.
