Political candidates plan on reforming federal aid

For many students, federal financial aid is the only resource available to cover the cost of a higher education. According to UTEP's financial aid website, over 60 percent of the university's students receive financial aid, either through grants, loans or work-study. And as the presidential election looms closer and closer, students can expect talk of changes to federal aid in the coming months.

In President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Jan. 24, he stated plans to double the number of work-study jobs in five years and extend tuition tax credit. He also pushed states to make college more affordable. Last October, Obama announced a change to the Pay as You Earn plan in an effort to make loan repayments easier.

"His State of the Union address this year was really just a campaign speech," said Louis Southard, chairman of UTEP College Republicans. "Obama was just trying to appeal to students. How is he going to pay for it? It's a nice thought to give away free money to all students, but we are in a lot of debt already as a nation."

According to the Project on Student Debt, the average Texas student graduates with $20,919 of debt.

"I agree with what Obama is trying to do," said Fernie Medina, senior biology major. "The government is there for the people and sometimes you have no choice but to rely on it."

Republican candidates Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul have different views than Obama on how education should be handled at the federal level.

According to Gingrich's website, his solution to the rise of student debt issue involves cutting back on the Department of Education. The site states "shrink the federal Department of Education and return power to states and communities. The department's only role will be to collect research and data, and help find new and innovative approaches to then be adopted voluntarily at the local level."

"Gingrich seems to be the most vocal about federal aid and wants to reform the loan system," Southard said. "He wants to make it easier to go to college. Having the government pay for everything hasn't been working obviously."

Ron Paul seems to share a similar view as Gingrich. Though his website's only word on education is that the government should do more to support home schooling, he has stated on the campaign trail that he would do away with federal aid completely. In an interview with CNN, Paul said "anybody who is ambitious enough will get to go to college."

"That's just another way to keep the best interest in favor of higher class people," said Juan Muñoz, senior psychology major. "If that were to happen then obviously only rich families would be able to afford school and everyone else, particularly minorities, would be left out."

The ideology behind reducing federal aid is that in turn colleges will reduce their prices allowing more students to afford school.

"I agree that college should be more affordable," Southard said. "But giving away money is not going to help, that only allows for schools to raise up tuition prices."

Both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum don't seem to have federal financial aid on their list of issues to overcome. Like Paul, Santorum's only words on education involve home schooling and allowing parents to contribute more to their child's education. Romney doesn't mention anything about education in general on his website, nor has he been vocal about it on the campaign trail.

"I think the federal government should cut back," Southard said. "Our country used to be so smart but now the quality of education has gone down significantly."

Fernie Medina, sophomore pre-science major, said the plans to cut federal aid would have a dramatic impact on El Paso forcing many students to not be able to attend a college.

"I really don't know what republicans are thinking," Medina said. "We struggle with funds as it is, particularly here in El Paso. If they cut back on financial aid a lot of us at UTEP wouldn't be able to go to school."

Medina's mother is unable to work because she became sick and so her family depends on whatever income Medina can bring in.

"I have a work-study job, but that is only minimum wage. I depend on financial aid to go to school," Medina said.

Emmanuel Barraza, sophomore music major, is concerned about what cutting back on financial aid could do to UTEP.

"If government aid was taken out of school then UTEP would become like a dessert wasteland," he said. "I know plenty of students who wouldn't be able to afford school even though UTEP is considerably cheaper than other universities."

Jasmine Aguilera may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.