Dear Friend:

Thank you for writing to me about increasing access to post-secondary education. Making college affordable and reducing the mounting debt students face is one of my priorities as a United States Senator, and I appreciate hearing from you on this important topic.                   

            During consideration of the Senate budget resolution, I was a strong supporter of legislation that will provide $9 billion of new college aid to help the neediest students afford college.  If this policy is implemented, a portion of the funds money will help support juniors and seniors studying math, science, and foreign-languages critical to our national security.  In addition, the bill raises the authorization level of Pell Grants and makes them available year-round.  All of these policies will help more students go to college and protect the purchasing power of the Pell Grants against further decline.  The bill also strengthens the Direct Loans program, which is more efficient and less costly to taxpayers, makes PLUS loans available to graduate students and retains low, fixed interest rates for consolidated student loans.                                                   

I also strongly supported the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill, which protects critical existing programs that help families pay for college.  This bill restored funding that the President’s budget had eliminated for TRIO (Upward Bound and Talent Search), GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), LEAP (Leveraging Education Assistance Program), and Perkins loans.  The President's budget proposal would have cost New York over $24 million in vital GEAR UP and TRIO education resources, an outcome that would have had a devastating impact on the academic and future success of nearly 40,000 low-income and first-generation New York students.  I am glad that the Senate took action to restore these cuts and will continue to fight any Administration attempt to undermine these critical programs.                   

I am also pleased that the bill restored more than $1.3 billion to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education program, a program the President proposed eliminating, and $369 million in adult basic education and literacy program funding.  The President’s 2006 budget proposal would have cost New York $65.38 million in job training funds and cut overall state grant funding for adult education from $569.7 million to $200 million – a 63% cut that would have affected more than 41,000 New York students.  By passing this bill and the Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act, which I co-sponsored, the Senate has sent a strong message that the President’s plan to abolish this critical program was short-sighted and wrong.                               

Despite the progress we have made, there remains much to do.  I was disappointed that my colleagues in the Senate rejected an amendment to increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $4,250.  This $200 increase is well below what is needed, but it would have provided needed assistance to working families sending children to college.  According to a recent report by the College Board, tuition at four-year colleges has increased at a rate as fast as or faster than inflation every year since the early 1980s.  Twenty years ago, in the 1985-1986 school year, the maximum federal Pell Grant covered nearly 60% of the cost of the tuition, fees, room, and board of a four-year public university.  Today the maximum Pell Grant covers less than 40% of those costs.   As a result more students are falling into debt.  50% of today’s college students graduate in debt, owing an average of $15,500.  If higher education is to be accessible to everyone who wants to attend, the maximum Pell Grant must keep pace with the cost of college.  

In these tough fiscal times we must honor our commitment to providing the necessary resources to make college more accessible and affordable.  Our country cannot afford to short-change our students when it comes to their education.                      

           Again, thank you for writing me about this important issue.  Please be assured that I will continue to fight against any Administration attempt to undermine higher education.  For updates on this and other important issues being discussed before the United States Senate, please visit my website at http://clinton.senate.gov.

Sincerely,

Hillary Rodham Clinton