Perkins, I'll miss you . . .

So according to several sources, our terrific President (yeah, sorry to my conservative friends, I'm being sarcastic. I can't help it. It's a sickness) has proposed not only cutting the federal contribution to the Perkins Loan program, but elimiating the program altogether.

Now in case you aren't aware, Perkins Loans are one source of financial aid to help fund undergraduate ($4000/year) and graduate ($6000/year) education. They have a low interest rate (usually around 5%) and are paid to students directly from the school.

Eliminating programs like the Perkins Loan is just another way of reinscribing, or dare I say it, reinforcing, the class structure in the United States. It's one thing when a student opts to go to an expensive private college like Harvard or Stanford or Williams or Smith or the like . . . It's another thing when you apply to a state school and still can't afford to cover costs. In-state tuition and fees for UCLA are almost $7100/yr, but that's on the cheap side as far as state schools are concerned. Michigan costs $8200 for 1st or 2nd year students, $9200 for juniors and seniors. Note, none of these figures include room and board--we're talking tuition only. The cost doubles, when you factor in the dormitories.

So we'll go back to the days when college is only available to the upper class. Might I be exaggerating, I suppose so, but if 4 years at the state college is going to run upwards of $60,000 (or more), for one child, how are regular people going to afford it? I mean those who fall into the ever-widening gap of "not poor enough for financial aid" and :not rich enough to pay for college."

Though I suppose it would solve the recruitment problem that the armed forces have been dealing with over the last several months . . .