Beware of lobbyists on student aid bill

The skyrocketing cost of college has put higher education out of reach for too many talented young people. Poor and working-class families must devote one third to 55 percent of their income - even after financial aid - to pay for costs at public four-year colleges.

To address this problem, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. The bill raises the Pell grant and invests in community colleges and minority serving institutions, which will ensures that millions more young people will have the opportunity to attend college.

It also puts students over loan companies' excess profits by 1) ending a program that gives banks wasteful subsidies and 2) using the savings - $87 billion - to help students get an education. Now, as the Senate prepares to take up the bill, bank lobbyists are attempting to kill this common sense reform.

They have already spent millions on lobbying and ads, and have even hired a high-powered and controversial public relations firm to run their campaign against reform. Our Senators should make sure that they are listening to students and their families, not lender lobbyists.

Andrew Bendelow

Elmhurst