AGB Alert: Alliance for Student Aid

The Student Aid Alliance, a coalition of more than 60 higher education associations including the Association of Governing Boards, has launched a nationwide effort to get signatories for a statement of support urging Congress to continue its funding of the federal student aid programs. Sent to public and private and two and four-year colleges and universities throughout the country, the effort to date has garnered over 86,000 signatures. The text of the Statement is below.

Congress is currently in serious negotiations on the federal deficit, as well as the current year’s funding level for education programs. As a member of the Alliance, AGB is encouraging those presidents and board chairs of institutions and college and university systems whose students depend on federal student aid to consider urging their board members to sign on to the Statement.

The 86,000 signatures include students, parents, executives, faculty, and staff. Many board members have endorsed the Statement but a stronger trustee voice is needed to demonstrate to members of Congress the depth of support for the Pell Grant program, campus-based student aid programs, graduate education programs, and other related programs such as the TRIO programs that facilitate college student opportunity and success.  The Statement will be shared with all members of Congress, including those working specifically on the federal budget and federal education spending.

If the voice of the members of your board is important to this process, please have them visit this page, where they can sign the Statement. 

Save Student Aid: Statement of Support

Our nation sorely needs to power up its economic engine. Work force projections show that by 2018, there will be jobs for as many as 22 million new workers with college degrees, but on our current trajectory, we won’t make that goal—in fact we’ll miss it by 3 million workers.

Recent budget deals have already cut $30 billion from the student aid programs, sacrificing some students’ benefits to pay for others. States across the country are cutting higher education from their own budgets.

That’s why it’s more important than ever to preserve, protect and provide adequate funding for the core federal student aid programs—such as Pell Grants and student loan benefits. Together, these programs offer students an opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills our nation demands for a strong recovery.

Tough budget decisions in DC have put pressure on all federal spending, but cutting student aid, a long-term investment in our nation’s future, doesn’t make sense.

I support protecting federal student aid. Keep college within reach for our nation’s students and families.