Scholarships for American students will now be paid by the U.S. government
According to congressmen, in the current crisis conditions the private sector is not coping with supporting students from poor families.
The United States has more than 7,000 colleges and universities, with 16.5 million students enrolled. On average, one year of their education costs a total of $90 billion. Now the lion's share of the costs will fall on the federal budget.
In previous years, there were repeated unsuccessful attempts to change the nearly half-century-old system of financing student needs. "And now the House of Representatives has approved the long-awaited changes," President Barack Obama happily announced during a meeting with students and professors at the University of Maryland.
University students receive various types of financial aid. First, there are scholarships. Their amounts depend on the prosperity of the institution, the financial status of the students' families, and, of course, academic performance. Second, there are special awards for excellent students and for those who have shown extraordinary abilities in sports. But most importantly, there is financial aid for hundreds of thousands of students from low-income families.
The late Senator Edward Kennedy most accurately and clearly defined its essence when discussion of the bill to modernize the university financial system began in Congress. "The cost of providing aid to students from low-income families will not cost taxpayers a single cent," he said. "The money will not come from taxpayers' pockets, but directly from the federal bank, and precisely to those who deserve it—students whose families do not have sufficient income to pay for their children's higher education."
Boris VINOKUR.
Novye Izvestia