Increase Maximum Student Aid

To the Editors:

Welcome back, fellow Obies, to another year at one of most expensive colleges in a state with the 12th highest tuition rate in the country.
Thanks to the slow crumbling of a corrupt and bloated capitalist economy, states across the nation have slashed higher education funding. The
recession struck a blow to private colleges as well, as money lost in the
stock market is being made up in higher term bills. Oberlin's tuition
soared up almost 10 per cent for the 2002-2003 school year, reaching
$36,619.
Higher education is becoming increasingly inaccessible for a rapidly growing portion of the population, and an overwhelming burden for those who have the privilege of attending college: the average student attending a United States college graduates with $17,000 in federal education loan debt.
In a year when the federal budget includes the smallest increase in
student aid funding in years, it is imperative that students everywhere
take action and speak out for affordable education. The Senate is currently considering amendments that would increase the maximum award for the need-based Pell Grant from $4,000 to $4,500. In Ohio, this would mean that 7,216 more students would receive Pell Grant aid, and the students who need it most will get more. Get involved! Call your Ohio Senator Mike DeWine (member of the Senate Appropriations Committee) at 202-224-2315 and urge him to increase Pell Grant funding by $500. Write an angry letter to the editor. Help organize and build a movement. If you want to get involved even further, join the Ohio PIRG Higher Ed Campaign, and help dismantle and rebuild the grossly inadequate higher education funding system in Ohio.

–Avery Book
College junior
Ohio PIRG Higher Education Campaign