Platform includes college cost cuts

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a speech Thursday that if the Democratic party retakes control of the House of Representatives in the mid-term congressional elections, the affordability of higher education will be on the top of its agenda.

This pledge is part of House Democrats’ “New Direction for America,” which also focuses on making health care more affordable, lowering gas prices, achieving energy independence, helping working families, ensuring dignified retirement and requiring fiscal responsibility, according to Pelosi’s Web site.

In her speech to Georgetown University students last Thursday, Pelosi said that if the Democratic party regains the House, it will cut college costs by implementing a three-point plan.

First, it will work to increase the Pell Grant nearly 25 percent to $5,100. Currently, the maximum Pell Grant is $4,050.

Second, it hopes to cut interest rates on student loans in half, lowering the rates to 3.4 percent for loans taken out by students and 4.25 percent for those taken out by parents.

It also plans to allow a 100 percent tax credit for tuition up to $3,000, totalling $12,000 over four years for most middle-class families, according to the House Democrats’ Web site.

Pelosi said House Democrats will have to work to reverse a Republican higher education policy enacted over the last year.

“This year, Republicans raided federal student aid programs by $12 billion and raised interest rates on college loans for parents and students,” Pelosi said.

But at this time, the House Democrats are in the conceptual stages of their planning. They have not yet addressed some important details, such as funding.

Gregory Moeck, chairman of the Bruin Republicans, said he would like to see further detail about how the Democrats plan to fund the proposals.

“Pelosi, while she proposes an increase in funding, doesn’t address where the money is going to come from,” said Moeck, a fourth-year computer science major.

Moeck said it is hard to judge the House Democrats’ plan because many of the details are still unclear.

In her speech, Pelosi also stressed the idea that education is integral to U.S. prominence in the global arena.

“Your education is not only important to your self-fulfillment, it is important and essential to our competitiveness as a country,” Pelosi said.

Gabe Rose, a third-year political science and communications student and president of the Bruin Democrats, agrees with Pelosi on this point.

“I think Pelosi understands that if America wants to keep competing in a global world, education must be an important issue,” Rose said.

Rose said he thinks the House Democrats’ plan will help alleviate debt when students graduate college, allowing them to have more freedom in choosing a career.

But Moeck said he believes it is important to also ask whether it is the responsibility of the individual or the government to pay for college education – and whether a plan to put more money toward education is feasible.

“I think that when UCLA students are confronted with the question, ‘Would you like to have more money for college?’ they would say yes,” Moeck said.

“But it is important to move away from the individual perspective and look at the issue on a larger scale to see whether or not our society can really afford this,” he said.

Rose said that ensuring an affordable education is important to college students, so students may be more inclined to vote in the mid-term elections.