The Commission on the Future of Higher Ed - Taking Us ALL to the Cleaners

The federal Secretary of Education's "Commission on the Future of Higher Education" published a draft report on August 3rd that proposes a 50-75% CUT in federal student aid and offers to generously send the vast majority of students seeking aid into the private market to obtain loans for education. Their final report is due Thursday (that's tomorrow) and while they're ostensibly inviting public comment, they're doing so through a "public comment line." With only a day left, it's critical that we act now, both through the public comment line and through more direct avenues. To skip my rant and go straight to what to do, head to the bottom of this post.

This recommendation is particularly ironic in the face of numerous other facts they point out in their report: the FAFSA is too hard (have they tried navigating the private loan marketplace lately?), racial and ethnic minorities and poor families increasingly report financial barriers as their resons for not attending college of some sort, and the number of students completing college is going down. So, let me get this straight - the answer is to make it MORE difficult and MORE confusing to get aid for school?

Even worse, the Public Interest Research Group a non-profit coalition of state-based groups researching policy in the public interest, estimates that this proposal will cost students $32 billion dollars more in interest payments, and that $168 billion dollars in loans will be dumped on to the private loan market in the first five years.

So why do a bunch of med students care? Not only do we take out some the largest dollar amounts of any group on federal loans, and come into school with loans from undergraduate, but we already have a problem with diversity in the physician workforce. The Sullivan Commission reports that while racial and ethnic minorities make up 26% of the US population, only 6% of physicians are Latino, African American, or Native American. Cutting medical students out of the federal loan business will only serve to decrease the diversity of physicians in the workforce, which does both our patients and our profession a disservice. The report from the Commission on Higher Ed claims to be interested in diversity - seems to me they're more interested in a big kickback to the private loan industry.

A report from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) indicates that the average debt for medical students has increased exponentially from 22,000-27,000 in 1984 to $100,000-$135,000 in 2004. And that's just from medical school. Five percent of medical students have debt over $200,000. When you're staring that big gun in the face and you don't have a lot of financial prospects -- outside of working two part-time jobs while trying to finish college -- for supporting you through four years of college, the MCAT costs, and the interviewing costs, most people just say, "No, thanks." And increasingly, those people saying, "no, thanks" are disadvantaged minority students who have much to contribute to the culture of medicine.

Making higher education an "accessible opportunity for all" doesn't mean dumping us all out onto the private market to fend for ourselves -- the federal government system is in place to protect students (who often don't know a lot about lending) from predatory lenders and ridiculously high prices in the market -- it means making real strides towards real change that actually will widen the pipeline in the medical field and others for disadvantaged and minority students across the country.

We're calling on all of you to contact the Commission on Higher Education and tell them you don't think private loans are the way to go for students who need financial aid. The American Medical Student Association has written some suggested text, which can be use to email or call the public comment line, but can also be used at the PIRGs' Student Debt Alert Page to email the Chairman of the Commission. Email the Commission Contacts directly as well:

• Cheryl Oldham
  Executive Director
  Cheryl.Oldham@ed.gov
• Vickie Schray
  Deputy Director for Management and Planning
  Vickie.Schray@ed.gov
• Eleanor Schiff
  Deputy Director for Research and External Affairs
  Eleanor.Schiff@ed.gov
• Kristen Vetri
  Chief of Staff
  Kristen.Vetri@ed.gov

Adding your own comments or changing the text makes this a much more powerful message!!

Here is the contact information: HigherEdCommission@ed.gov (202) 205-8741
Dear Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education:
As a medical student, I am very aware of the huge burden of debt that higher education students acquire over their years of study. I am therefore writing to urge you to change the provision in the latest draft report of the Commission that encourages students to take out private loans as opposed to federal student loans. Private loans increase the burden that students face due to their higher cost and lack of borrower protections. The change that the Commission recommends would cost borrowers at least $32 billion in additional interest payments based on the current private loan interest rates.

We agree with and strongly support your mission to assure equal access to educational opportunities; however, we feel that by recommending students to take out private loans, you are effectively hindering progress towards your stated mission. The diversity in medicine and in other workforce fields will only be negatively impacted by this change.

Please consider withdrawing the recommendation when you meet Thursday, August 10^th, 2006. We believe your focus should remain on increasing grant aid and making loan repayment more manageable. We hope that you would advocate for policies that encourage affordable higher education.

Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,

The Commission report is due out tomorrow and they NEED to hear from us!