In one of its most intensive congressional lobbying efforts in recent years, Georgetown has launched what administrators said is an all-out effort on Capitol Hill to halt a proposal to eliminate a key federal student loan, a change that could create a major gap in the university’s student aid budget.
The plan to eliminate the Perkins Loan program, which could cost the university nearly $30 million in lost federal funds, would “create a tremendous loss” in Georgetown’s student aid portfolio, Patricia McWade, dean of Student Financial Services, said in an email sent to students with Perkins Loans earlier this month.
Administrators have initiated an extensive campaign to kill the plan to abolish the Perkins Loan program, which provided about 1,500 Georgetown students with loans averaging $4,500 during the current academic year.
Student Financial Services sent a mass email two weeks ago to all main campus, Law Center and Medical Center students receiving the loans, and the university’s Office of Federal Relations has begun working with sympathetic lawmakers, including Georgetown alumni, to introduce measures to prevent the Perkins program’s elimination.
“This is the first time we’ve this aggressively engaged students,” Scott Fleming (SFS ’72), university assistant to the president for federal relations, said. “I don’t do that casually, because students are here to do things other than lobby.”
Georgetown administrators worked with Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas, SFS ’78) to introduce an amendment last week in the House Budget Committee that would have restored Perkins Loan funding in the budget for fiscal year 2006. The amendment was defeated by a voice vote.
The plan to abolish the loan program was proposed in President Bush’s budget, which the White House submitted to Congress last month. Administration officials have argued that the elimination of the program is necessary to more efficiently distribute government aid to students in need, by bolstering federal programs like the Pell Grant and Stafford Loan. Bush’s budget included a proposed $500 increase in the maximum Pell Grant, as well as increases in the amount students can borrow from the Stafford Loan program, which has lent Georgetown students over $400 million over the past five years.
Sally Stroup, assistant U.S. secretary for postsecondary education, said in an interview yesterday that reforms in the federal student loan programs would help government funds reach a greater number of students nationwide.
“The Perkins loan program serves only 3 percent of all postsecondary students at a limited number of colleges,” she said. “Investing these funds in Pell Grants allows all needy students to benefit, regardless of where they go to school. And grants, unlike loans, don’t have to be repaid.”
Stroup also said that the White House’s budget proposal would create new opportunities for college students by increasing funding for many financial aid programs.
“The president’s fiscal year 2006 budget proposal funds higher education at record levels – more than $80 billion in grants, loans, and work-study assistance,” she said. “.[I]n 2006, the [Pell Grant] program will provide a record $13.7 billion to 5.5 million low-income students .. The combined Pell increase and loan increase are all intended to lessen the impact of the loss of the federal share of the Perkins loan fund.”
McWade said that even if the Perkins Loan program were eliminated, Georgetown would continue to meet the full financial need of its students.
Fleming said that the increase in the Stafford Loan cap and the Pell Grant program, which provides approximately $2 million in financial aid to Georgetown students annually, would not be nearly enough to make up the losses Georgetown would face if the Perkins Loan program were eliminated.
“I just don’t see how the math adds up,” he said. “On a bipartisan basis, people are saying, `this is a good program, we should keep it operating.'”
An email sent out by the Office of Federal Relations urged students to contact their congressional representatives and “point out to them that the administration’s budget just doesn’t add up when it comes to supporting student financial assistance.” So far, about 30 students with Perkins Loans have indicated they want to help lobby for the program, Fleming said.
The president’s budget is currently being considered by the full House and Senate, and is expected to receive final approval from both bodies today. An amendment proposed by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), which had received Georgetown and other universities’ support and would strike the Perkins Loan cuts from the budget, was passed last night on the floor of the Senate.
The fate of the loan program will not be ultimately determined until later this year, when Congress passes its final appropriations measures, but university administrators saw the amendment’s passage as a positive sign that the Perkins program could be salvaged.
Many students receiving Perkins loans said they remained worried by the proposal.
“Personally, I do receive the Perkins Loan and, based on my family’s financial situation, that money is pivotal in my attending Georgetown,” Sean Sullivan (SFS ’07) said. “Normally, I’m a big supporter of Bush’s policy, but in this instance, they couldn’t be further from doing the right thing for students.”
Pamela Werthman (COL ’06) said that she also depended on federal grants and low-interest loans like the Perkins Loan to pay for the cost of attending Georgetown.
“The scary thing is, if I cannot afford to attend school full-time next year, I must begin to repay all of my student loans after a brief grace period,” she said. “The thought of having to pay off those loans, without having completed my bachelor’s degree, is overwhelming.”
The proposal to eliminate the longstanding loan program has generated an upsurge of opposition from higher education groups and many lawmakers, including at least one key Republican leader. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, expressed concern about the plan to scrap Perkins Loans during a meeting with higher education leaders last month.
Government professor and American politics specialist Clyde Wilcox said he also had doubts about the feasibility of abolishing the program during this year’s budget process.
“The loans have reasonably strong support in Congress,” he said. “I would be surprised if they are eliminated this year. They benefit middle class families .. The loans could possibly be cut but not eliminated, but probably not even that.”
Wilcox warned, however, that future budget pressures brought on by new tax cuts and rising federal deficits could eventually force Congress to cut the program’s funding.
“In the long run, I am not sure that the program can survive,” he said. “We pay for these things with taxes; if we cut our taxes to the bone then we have to cut our programs to the bone also.”
Graduate students who depend on Perkins Loans could find themselves facing an even tougher financial situation if the program is eliminated, because they are ineligible to receive some forms of federal aid, like Pell Grants, that are targeted solely toward undergraduates.
Chris Dolan (LAW ’06), who has accepted nearly $18,000 in Perkins Loans over three years, said that without the financial aid he currently receives from the Perkins program, he could not pay the costs of attending Georgetown’s Law Center.
“Without the Perkins Loan there is no way I would be able to attend Georgetown,” Dolan said. “Given Georgetown Law’s tuition and the cost of living in Washington, D.C., the Stafford is just not enough. When no one in your family is able to cosign on a private loan, the Perkins Loan is your only option.”