Opinion

Plan B

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Given the continuing dilemma over the rising cost of tuition, there are no easy solutions. However, plans like the legislation proposed by U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wisconsin, to increase funding for Pell Grants by cutting middlemen like banks out of the loan process is a good answer to the problem of financial accessibility to higher education.

Tuition will assuredly continue to rise over the next couple years and students and their families will continue to struggle to cover higher and higher costs. The governor’s biennial budget is set to be released in the coming weeks, and most speculate the budgetary piece of pie Doyle allots for the University of Wisconsin System will be a meager one.

It is due to the state’s bleak budgetary landscape for higher education that we applaud Petri’s proposal and urge Congress to pass the Bipartisan Student Loan Bill in the coming weeks. Although the state certainly should live up to its duty as the primary caretaker for the UW System (and its students), any kind of headway made in keeping the price of a university education reasonable is both extremely helpful and extremely encouraging.

Making more money available for Pell Grants to needy students by cutting out excess bureaucracy is a simple, practical step in battling against current trends that have severely jeopardized Wisconsin’s reputation for affordable, quality public education. Such legislation would both alleviate some of the burden placed on students and their families as they cope with the price of tuition and would also not threaten the UW’s quality of education.

We also take special note that it is one of Wisconsin’s own lawmakers proposing the legislation. It is encouraging to see Petri take the state’s tuition crisis to the national stage, particularly in light of the federal government’s continuing lackluster fulfillment of its continuing promises to make higher education more affordable.