Just when you thought the Bush administration had resigned itself to the impotence of a lame-duck presidency, it has come out swinging - and for education of all things.
A mere five months after vetoing a budget bill that would have allotted valuable funds to education and healthcare in favor of a $400-billion defense budget, Bush now has Congress working to ensure that college students don't become the next victims of our nation's so-called credit crunch.
While it's been hard to read a newspaper or watch TV this year without hearing something about the country's failing economy, most undergrads are probably more concerned with cramming for finals than with learning about whatever the heck a subprime mortgage is. After all, what do we care if there's a lending crisis going on in America? What undergrad or soon-to-be unemployed English major is looking to buy a house or dabble in the stock market?
But in a few months, undergrads will begin the tedious process of applying for loans to offset the soaring costs of post-secondary education. And, come September, Jumbos will be surprised to learn that the same banks that are starting to jump ship from the real estate and investment banking markets are also refusing to grant student loans.
The New York Times reported today that the Bush administration is offering to buy up student loans in order to give credit institutions more flexibility in next year's lending - and considering the fact that Tufts students borrowed over $33 million to pay for their 2007-08 academic year, they're going to need all the flexibility they can get.
We applaud the Bush administration for its recognition of this important problem and for taking concrete steps to address it. We hope that this good idea makes the leap from draft to functioning legislation as quickly as possible; even if this semester isn't quite over, Jumbos will be looking to borrow for next year before very long, and if legislation isn't in place to guarantee them funding, Tufts' price tag of about $47,000 could be prohibitively steep for some.
And while the costs of education are in the public consciousness, the government should look to do even more. While Washington is wisely choosing to focus its efforts on bailing out the recipients of federal loans for the moment, it should also consider plans to support middle-class students whose families are too wealthy to qualify them for federal loans but who still require private loans to offset college costs.
After all, if the economy doesn't right itself soon, students who count on private loans to get them through their four years at Tufts could end up being even more vulnerable than their federally-funded counterparts.
