Pell-mell into debtor's hell

By: Derek Simons

Posted: 10/13/08

It was largely submerged by other dire financial news from the last few weeks, but some of you may have read about the Pell Grant credit crunch.

Incoming! This year, 800,000 more students asked for a slice of the financial aid pie. The New York Times reported the government is facing a $6 billion shortfall next year for the Pell program.

The simple decision facing the government is A) find more cash, B) reduce the amount of bucks going to each recipient or C) award aid to less people.

Now, $6 billion may seem like a lot of money to you and me, but if you think about how much cash those folk in Washington throw around each day on the silliest projects imaginable - projects like country-smashing and country-rebuilding, or giving $25 billion to the three big-car companies in Detroit to invent something auto manufacturers elsewhere have been producing for years - then $6 billion starts to look like peanuts.

Unfortunately, college students are somehow considered by legislators (at both the state and national level) to be little more than money-producing animals caged in classrooms, and some of these legislators have posted big signs saying, "Don't feed the animals."

No peanuts for us.

I've spent most of my life in Europe, living between Ireland and Italy. Perhaps you might find a few comparisons with that neck of the woods interesting.

My friends in Dublin get paid to go to university. Yes, you read that right.

Not only is tuition free, but, as the government considers investing in education one of the most important initiatives it can take, it gives students a modest monthly allowance.

This is based on a bizarre (at least for here in the United States) concept: Students study better when they don't have to also work 30 or 40-hour weeks.

In Florence (and other Italian cities), hardly a year goes by without students protesting against the government over education issues. Last year they were so angry they occupied the university for a week, completely shutting down all campus operations.

The government's alleged crime was considered particularly egregious - it wanted students to pay for all their textbooks.

Students there believe free tuition is the bare minimum, and having to spend $200 per year on books did not make them happy.

Maybe this sounds all very socialist to you, but consider this: Ireland has gone from being the poorest country in Europe to its new status over the last 10 years as "The Celtic Tiger." This was in large part thanks to a highly-educated young population ready to step in to jobs beyond the service sector.

The United States will not pull out of the oncoming economic depression with $600 stimulus packages or by maintaining tax cuts for the wealthy. It needs to look more than one election cycle into the future.

This country needs to think long-term and make massive new investments in the education system.

This country may have all the potential politicians continually attribute it, but unrealized potential doesn't do much good to anyone.

Cutting the Pell Grants either in size or amount (or worse, both) is tantamount to condemning a large part of the population to a future of minimum-wage jobs or 20 years of oppressive debt.

Look around at your classmates: How many arrive tired from their jobs, behind on their homework or unprepared for an exam?

Talk to your parents and grandparents. Let them tell you how it used to be enough to work during the summer to pay for an entire year of school.

The situation has been steadily deteriorating over the decades, and it's possible it will reach a point of no return. Instead of being the first in your family to get a college degree, you may end up being the last.

This is not purely a "guns vs. butter" discussion. Sure, just a month's spending in Iraq would solve the Pell crisis next year and beyond, but what's really needed is a complete shift in mentality and approach to higher education.

UMKC is constantly scraping around for money - to pay professors, to provide decent services for students, to stay abreast of the latest innovations - and it's losing the battle, constantly taking from one to give to another.

The State of Missouri is financing new construction on college campuses by raiding MOHELA, our state higher-education loan agency. It is building new structures, but less people will be able to afford to attend them.

The nation has in place a dysfunctional program to remove funding from schools incapable of reaching certain levels because they were never financed properly in the first place.

Do you see the trend here?

Elections are coming soon. Listen carefully to what the candidates on all levels say (and if they can say it in complete sentences).

Lip-service is right up there with the unrealized potential mentioned earlier.

It is indeed time for change.

dsimons@unews.com