Rep. Doggett Defends Federal Student Support for our Students and Universities – the Sparkplugs of Economic Development and Job Growth PDF Print
Today during a House Budget Committee hearing on the role of the Perkins Loan Program, a need-based student loan offered by the U.S. Department of Education to assist college students in funding their post-secondary education, Rep. Doggett discussed the importance of such student financial aid.  Rep. Doggett stated  “I represent the students and faculty members of Texas State University, UT, St. Eds, HT, and ACC—and whether it is this [Perkins Loan Program] or others, student financial assistance is really important to them,” he said.    

 During his questioning, he also made clear that while he shares the view that in this time of growing deficits, we must be ferreting out wasteful spending, this federal support for education is not where cuts should be made:.   “I have heard this view echoed loudly by some in Texas who seem not only interested in taking America back but taking it backward.  If parents [and states] could shoulder all of these responsibilities, these loan programs wouldn’t have been set up by President Eisenhower and others on a bipartisan basis back in the 1950s.”   

 The witnesses agreed that getting rid of these programs that make post-secondary education attainable for so many would be “disastrous.”