Letters to the Editor
Boston Globe

To the Editor:

Jeff Jacoby would not pass a class in introductory higher education economics or 20th-century American history (“Making college affordable,” February 10).

Every piece of empirical evidence that exists—from the U.S. Department of Education, independent consultants, and higher education economists—debunks the urban legend that increases in federal student aid drive up college tuition. In fact, a study by Coopers and Lybrand found that as the level of Pell Grant funding increased, the rate of tuition increases slowed.

The financial assistance that private colleges give students through institutional aid programs is massive. In 2002-03, students at private colleges (which enroll the same percentage of Pell Grant recipients as public four-year institutions) received more than four times as much grant aid--$11 billion—from their institutions as from the federal government.

These institutional aid budgets grew more than twice as fast as tuition in the past decade, (197 percent to 86 percent, respectively), helping to control increases in student out-of-pocket costs.

A recent U.S. Department of Education study showed that the average amount that full-time undergraduates at private institutions paid in tuition after receiving grants did not increase from 1992 to 1999, after adjusting for inflation. In fact, it decreased by $100.

The groundbreaking G.I. Bill and Higher Education Act have proven the power of federal student aid has to promote college opportunity, social mobility, and the nation’s economic development. In the past 60 years, millions of Americans from all walks of life have earned college degrees because of the opportunities provided by the federal investment in student aid.

An investment in student aid is an investment in the improvement of our society. With each college graduate we see a society less burdened by crime, welfare, and poverty. An investment in students is an investment in the solution to those problems for all of us.

Our knowledge-based economy demands more college graduates. Our nation’s security rests on scientific and technological innovation. The number of low-income college-age students is beginning to skyrocket. Our nation cannot afford to return to the days when family income determined where, and if, you went to college. The moral and social fabric of America is strengthened when all students have equal opportunity to attend the institution that best serves their needs.

More—not less—support of federal student aid by our nation’s policymakers and opinion leaders will keep America strong and healthy.

Sincerely,

David L. Warren
President
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities