[Oasfaa] Advocacy for federal student aid

Wed Feb 22 09:38:05 CST 2017

Folks, if you have never reached out to the Oklahoma Congressional delegation in DC, I recommend you start doing it now.  Conversations like the one found here<https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/02/22/consensus-forms-loan-policies-among-conservative-thinkers> are beginning to alarm me greatly. Federal student aid programs need an overhaul, to say the least, but my fear is that if conversations like these, filled with buzz words and agendas and lacking in data and fact, gain legislative momentum, the programs we administer, and more importantly, the students and families they serve, could be in jeopardy.

Our Congressmen need to be reminded that:

1) Federal student aid changes should take place during the reauthorization process of the HEA and in a wholesale fashion, not in the piecemeal budget and reconciliation measures we have seen over the last several years, when policy changes have been made with only the bottom line as the driving motivation.

2) A return to the private market, at least in the sense that is presented in an article like this, will severely limit the funding available to much of the student population and their parents. There is not a single voice, I believe, who would argue that our programs are perfect as they are, but to eliminate the Plus programs and let the private market takeover would lead to a funding crisis for those who tend to benefit the most from Parent and Grad Plus loan programs. We are intimately familiar with how expensive higher education is, at the undergraduate, graduate, and profession levels. We know full well that the private market would not bear out funding for many of the borrowers who need it the most, and if they can't find a way to pay for it, well, then they just can't attend, can they?

3) The "Bennett Hypothesis" is a tired and inappropriate argument. In a state like Oklahoma, when we have seen nothing but the disinvestment of state funding for state schools, and a dramatic rise in fixed costs to simply run an institution, you can't convince me that the availability of "unlimited" Plus funds is the driving factor behind rising tuition and fee rates. Again, I'm not arguing that our collective institutional structure is without flaws, as it could certainly benefit from areas of reform, but this flawed logic paints the institution as the scapegoat for increased costs while we're all, as administrators, sitting back and enjoying raking in all this revenue from tuition. Riiight.

4) We have a voice, so let them, our elected representatives, hear it! National articles like this are easy to pick up and from them, form a negative perspective on these issues. NASFAA staff can't do this alone. They cannot be our only representation in DC.  We've got to be heard as well. Whether you like them or not, whether you voted for them or not, reach out to our Senators<https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/senators_cfm.cfm?State=OK> and Representatives<http://www.house.gov/representatives/#state_oh>. To paint it with a really broad brushstroke, the Republican tendency is to strive to reduce the federal role, and with the federal portfolio breaking into a trillion dollar<https://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/notes/feds-notes/2015/how-much-student-debt-is-out-there-20150807.html> figure, on the face of it, that would certainly scare me off and make me want to cut these programs off. But, our job is to inform and remind our elected officials of the people behind those numbers. You have institutional data to use. You have state data to access, as the Regents<https://www.okhighered.org/> offer a wealth of data at the state level, much of which is appropriate for all of higher ed in Oklahoma, not just the state system.

I am privileged to serve on NASFAA's Graduate/Professional Loan Limits Task Force, and last week we had our in-person meeting. While in DC, I met with staffers in Tom Cole's and Steve Russell's offices. While I made sure they understood the rich resource NASFAA is, for both us and for them, for policy insight and national statistics, frankly, they were more interested in hearing about the local effect of what I had to say about my students and families - their constituents, the need for federal aid at my campus and the invaluable benefit my students receive from it. There HAS to be a balance in this conversation, and we can provide that balance.

Justin Draeger, NASFAA President, frequently says "it's better to be at the table than to be on the menu." Pull up a chair folks, now is the time to get to the table!

Thanks,

Mendy Schmerer, M.Ed.
Assistant Director
Office of Student Financial Aid
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
1106 N. Stonewall, Rm 301
Oklahoma City, OK  73117
(405) 271-2118, x 48817 (p)
(405) 271-5446 (f)
Mendy-Schmerer at ouhsc.edu<mailto:Mendy-Schmerer at ouhsc.edu>
http://www.ouhsc.edu/financialservices/SFA/

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