DeLauro Meets with College & University Presidents To Discuss Issues Impacting Higher Education

DeLauro Meets with College & University Presidents To Discuss Issues Impacting Higher Education

-Tells group American competitiveness at risk with Federal budget cuts-

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - At a meeting with presidents from area colleges and universities on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University, Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today discussed the various issues impacting higher education. DeLauro convened the meeting to open a dialogue with the presidents about these issues and discuss how the federal budget proposal submitted by the Bush administration would impact the local schools and the nation as a whole.

DeLauro said she believed American competitiveness was at stake, citing testimony from the former Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Norman Augustine, to illustrate the challenges facing the American economy. Speaking to Congress as chair of a National Academy of Sciences competitiveness panel, Augustine described several services once being done here at home that our now done abroad. He described how many American companies receive software each morning that was written in India the night before - just in time to be tested in the U.S. and returned to India for further production that same evening. DeLauro explained that soon we can expect similar business practices in other industries in the near future.

"This tells us that the critical role colleges and universities played in the last century's economy will pale in comparison the role they will play in this century's," said DeLauro. "A quality college degree has always been the cornerstone of the American dream, opening the door to job opportunity and professional fulfillment. And today, it is a matter of global competitiveness as well. Across the board, it is clear from manufacturing to high tech, American competitiveness will only be as strong as our institutions of higher learning.

"For me, the central issue facing our universities is access and affordability," said DeLauro. "Today we are seeing a retreat from the commitment we made with the Higher Education Act in 1965. Despite gains in overall college participation during the past 3 decades, the rate at which high school graduates from high-income families enroll in college is about 27 percentage points greater than that for low-income families. The president's budget is not bringing us closer to solving the problem."

The President's Budget would hold Pell Grants flat at $4,050 for the fourth year in a row. In academic year 2004-2005, Connecticut students received nearly 37,500 Pell Grant awards. The Pell Grant program ran a $273 million surplus last year - which would be enough to fund a $75 increase in the maximum Pell Grant. Instead of raising the ceiling on Pell Grants, the Administration used the surplus to cut the amount of new funding for the coming year.

And the President's Budget would eliminate Perkins Loans for over 12,000 students in Connecticut who currently receive Perkins Loans. Some have argued that Perkins loans were redundant when interest rates on subsidized loans were lower than the 5 % rate of Perkins Loans. Now that reconciliation has raised the interest rate on subsidized loans to 6.8 % effective July 1st, Perkins loans is more needed than ever.

"We need to turn this budget around and repeal these decreases in student loans. We cannot afford to turn back the clock on access and affordability," concluded DeLauro.

DeLauro cited legislation she has been working on in the Congress to assist students with their college loans. The College Tax Credit would provide a refundable tax credit replacing the 5 existing education tax incentives with a $3,000-a-year credit to students for 4 years of college and 2 years of graduate school - enough to pay for almost all of the average annual tuition at public colleges and universities.

The legislation would also remove the requirement that Pell Grants and other need-based government aid be subtracted from a family's eligible college expenses, allowing those families to qualify for the total amount of the College Tax Credit. "With American competitiveness at stake, these are the kinds of proposals the Congress need to be considering - and urgently," she concluded.

Last month, DeLauro and administrators from the Middletown school district held an event to draw attention to budget cuts to the TRIO programs - programs for high school students that aid college access and opportunity.

http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2006/March/college_presidents_3_27_06.html