Middle-Class College Dreams Take Serious Hit Under Ryan Plan - Julie Margetta Morgan, Center for American Progress

Each year college students are taught that proper analysis of a topic requires more than just reading one book or consulting one expert. So it’s alarming that Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) of the House Budget Committee, by slashing the Pell Grant program, would deprive thousands of Americans access to college based on a misunderstanding of academic scholarship. The higher education section of Rep. Ryan’s new budget proposal would earn an “F” for poor research at any American college. The House budget plan proposes to cut Pell funding and refocus the program on “truly needy” students. Rep. Ryan’s rationale for the change is that students load up on excessive loan debt to pay for rising tuition inflated by “federal tuition subsidies.” The problem with this theory is that Rep. Ryan is relying on misinterpretation of research that masks the complicated nature of the relationship between college pricing and federal aid programs.