A little known part of the BBB:
With so much attention on his public feud with Harvard University, it could be easy to miss the creative ways Trump is expanding his attack on higher education through the reconciliation package. Here’s a shortlist:
- To decrease education spending by a meager $300 million over 10 years, the bill will deeply limit loan deferment and cancellation plans.
- Senators voted to completely end the grad PLUS loan program for graduate and professional students, which comes with a fixed interest rate and helps students afford “education expenses not covered by other financial aid,” according to the Department of Education.
- Graduate students have a lower cap for borrowing from the federal government under the package passed by the Senate.
Barbara R. Snyder, the president of the Association of American Universities, said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that the reconciliation package would likely keep students from pursuing higher education.
“AAU remains concerned that the arbitrary student loan thresholds set by the Senate combined with changes to other existing loan programs…will limit a student’s ability to pursue studies at the institution of their choice, especially for students with the highest financial need,” Snyder said.
Why bother with higher education when the jobs available will be dangerous, low wage manual labor anyway?
The Treasury and Commerce Secretaries say this is the American Dream.