College students got a helping hand last week with the passage of legislation providing $20 billion to increase grant aid for low-income students and cut subsidies to student loan companies. After garnering bipartisan support in both houses of Congress on Sept. 7, the legislation received President Bush's signature on Thursday.

The new law increases the Pell Grant program to $4,800 next year (and $5,400 by 2012) thanks to an infusion of $12 billion. Also, it cuts in half the interest rates on subsidized student loans.

"We are losing talented college and university students who want to teach and would make wonderful educators but can't afford to enter the classroom because of staggering student loan debt and low pay," said NEA President Reg Weaver.

An NEA Member Benefits poll last summer revealed that more than half of new NEA members (with fewer than four years of teaching experience) have student loan debt and more than half of them have more than $15,000 in debt. It's a function of rising college costs, which have escalated 40 percent over inflation during the past five years.

Relief can't come soon enough for NEA Student members like Ashley Davis, a 26-year-old early childhood education major at University of Alabama-Birmingham who has $15,000 in student loan debt. "Knowing that you're going to come out of (school) into a profession that pays so little is very overwhelming," Davis said. "I want a new home but that doesn't look like it's in my future."

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act is a sweeping piece of legislation being compared to the G.I. Bill. Student lenders fought the reform vehemently. Left out of the final law--thanks in part to pressure on legislators by NEA members--was a troubling amendment that would have given student loan companies more than $4 billion at the expense of the grant aid to students.

But the work isn't over. NEA will continue to push for legislation that will make it easier for students and graduates to consolidate their loans, said NEA Student Chairman Anthony Daniels. He also called on educators to be careful observers of what candidates in the 2008 presidential and Congressional races have to say about making college more affordable. "We need to hold these people accountable," Daniels said.

You can find more information about NEA's College Affordability campaign online.

--Cynthia Kopkowski

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