A bleak outlook lies ahead for current and future graduate students. Because of the debt ceiling deal reached by Republicans and Democrats in Congress last week, for next year and the foreseeable future, there will be no more federally subsidized loans for graduate students.
This forces students to take a hard look at themselves and re-evaluate if graduate school is the correct decision for them and not just a way to delay entering the workforce. While that’s a decision that students need to make on an individual basis, the decision made by lawmakers unfairly removes support for graduate students at a time when we as a country need to be looking to become better educated than ever.
If we’re going to advance as a country, we need academic researchers and scientists leading the way. But will a new group, one on the cutting edge of all available technology, be out there if they can’t even take out federal loans? Did we just cut the professors, researchers and business leaders of tomorrow at the same time that we’re trying to “win the future?”
That’s a counterintuitive approach to reaching a nationwide goal of better-educated individuals.
And it’s not even grants — money graduate students don’t have to pay back — that got the axe. Despite the fact that, come hell or high water, the government was going to get its loan money back, there was still a choice made to cut federally subsidized loans.
Proponents may argue that the $17 billion increase in federal Pell Grant funding for undergraduate students acts as a counterweight to this decision, but that’s a false postulation.
First, that $17 billion is only for 2012-15. That’s enough time for one undergraduate class, but what about future classes? The current political climate forecasts even more cuts to federal funding for higher education, no matter the education level.
Second, for all the talk of debt in this country, we seem to be in a hurry to saddle graduate students with the kind of debt we don’t want students to have. Federally subsidized loans are typically preferable because the federal government pays the interest as long as you remain in school (deferment periods). It might not seem like much, but when it comes time to pay that bill, the hit will be that much harder.
It’s understandable that the debt ceiling deal was a bitter pill that no one wanted to swallow. But if there’s no emphasis on making higher education accessible, we’ll lose ideas and perspectives that could turn things around. It’s an inadequate way to better plan for the future of our country, which will be secured only through the work of intelligent, educated people, people who are currently striving to get a higher education.
These cuts to graduate students ultimately slash our potential-filled future to preserve our ineffective present.
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