Friday, September 14, 2007

Musgrave should be supporting students

You won't see local papers write an article about Marilyn Musgrave's votes. You'll see plenty of articles about her latest photo-op though.

Allard, Musgrave should be supporting efforts to defray college costs

In a recent vote, Congress passed the College Cost Reduction Act overwhelmingly in both houses. The bipartisan bill takes roughly $20 billion in subsidies given to private loan companies and diverts the money directly to students in the form of larger Pell Grants. In addition to an increase in funding, the legislation also expands loan forgiveness programs for public servants and fights to keep the interest rate at 3.4 percent.

As a student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I thank all of our congressmen for their bold leadership in ensuring a safe and productive future for our country's youth.

I would also like to ask our two congress members from Colorado -- Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave -- why they voted no on the largest education spending bill since the GI Bill after World War II. I would like to know why they speak so much about the future of our country but pass on efforts to safeguard it. I would like to know why their platforms speak of the importance of higher education, yet they choose not to fund it.

Colorado is ranked 48th in the country for higher education funding. So why did our leaders (including presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.) choose to leave students in the pitfalls of loan debt and rising tuition costs?

Dan Omasta is chairman of the CoPIRG Student Chapters and a student at the University of Colorado, Boulder.