We’re not lacking good ideas on how to make higher education more affordable.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, was shown that Friday as she met with a panel of eight students who attend Everett Community College or its campus sister, Washington State University North Puget Sound at Everett, as reported by The Herald’s Sharon Salyer.
Each of the eight students told the senator of their difficulties in paying for education. Some of the frustrations were shared by two or more; some were specific to each student. But all pointed to opportunities to ease some of the bureaucracy and financial burden for students and their families.
Among them were:
Azrael Howell, serving his second term as ASB president at EvCC, started at the community college in 2013 and expects to graduate this spring and transfer to Bastyr University in Kenmore to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in naturopathic medicine. A father of four, Howell said his financial aid was limited in his first years because aid rules based his eligibility on the salary he earned after 15 years in retail.
Brandon Terzich, a military veteran, said he joined the service to qualify for the G.I. Bill’s education benefits. Currently enrolled at WSU North Puget Sound and studying electrical engineering, Terzich said he has attended classes at six or seven different community colleges during his military career, but few course credits from one college were accepted by the others and he couldn’t learn which credits would transfer until he enrolled at a new school.
Others shared frustrations with:
Financial awards that are based on formulas that don’t account for a family’s medical debt or other hardships;
Financial aid rules that haven’t adjusted to trends, such as EvCC and WSU sharing a campus, but limiting aid packages to only one institution, forcing students to pay out of pocket when they want to take a class offered by the other school;
The often exorbitant costs of text books and requirements that new books be purchased when there’s little change in the content; and
The Veterans Administration’s limit of 36 months of financial aid for military members who, because of work and other demands, need more time to complete degree programs.
Some of the students, having reached the limits of their financial aid, told of having to put text books and tuition charges on credit cards. The Institute for College Access and Success reports that in Washington state, 58 percent of those graduating college leave with student loan debt that averages $24,804. Nationwide, the figures are 7 in 10 students, with average debt of $28,950.
There are remedies proposed in Congress, Cantwell told the students. Cantwell, a ranking member on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has sponsored legislation that would create apprenticeships and education grant programs for science and engineering students.
Democratic senators also are backing a package of legislation, the Reducing Educational Debt Act, that would allow students to refinance private student loan debt at the lower federal rate, increase the amount of Pell Grant awards that benefit lower-income students to keep pace with inflation; and waive the cost of two years of community college tuition, a plan proposed last year by President Barack Obama.
All of this is worth pursuing, from grand bargains such as waiving community college tuition, down to commonsense reforms of rules for college credits, financial aid and the G.I. Bill.
Education is one of the primary drivers of our economy. Burdening students with years of debt limits that benefit.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
