Federal student aid shouldn’t be a blank check for state budgets - Ben Miller, Washington Post

The United States will never successfully address rising college prices if the federal government continues to go it alone on higher education funding. Each year, the U.S. Education Department hands out around $120 billion in grants and loans to students. This financial aid makes it possible for students to seize educational opportunities that would otherwise be out of their grasp. But for colleges — and especially states — this federal aid is a blank check. Unlike other types of federal funding, such as K-12 education or health care for low-income individuals, states and institutions are not expected to match student financial aid dollars with their own. Nor are they required to ensure this federal financial aid does not displace other state or institutional aid or cover any out-of-pocket tuition prices students face. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/10/20/federal-student-aid-shouldnt-be-a-blank-check-for-state-budgets/?utm_term=.594afe6db509