About the Student Aid Alliance
The Student Aid Alliance supports a package of proven student aid programs to help students achieve their higher education goals without excessive debt. These programs include Pell Grants, the campus-based programs (Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants [SEOG], Federal Work-Study, and Perkins Loans), Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships (LEAP), Federal Student Loans, Federal TRIO programs, and graduate programs.
While funding has increased for certain higher education programs in recent years, more funding is necessary to meet the needs of our nation's students. By 2015, undergraduate enrollment will increase by 15 percent, to almost 20 million students. Many of these new students will be the first in their family to attend college, and 80 percent will be members of racial/ethnic minorities.
Recent polls show that Americans believe helping student pay for college is an important and desirable expenditure for the federal government. Investment in student aid is an investment in everyone's future.
The public recognizes that a college education is an essential part of the American dream and the opportunity to go to college is a privilege that should be everyone's right. The federal government should make sure that the lack of financial of financial resources is never a barrier that prevents qualified students from going to college.
Because college graduat generally earn more, have greater financial resources, and are more likely to be employed, they make fewer demands on the public purse for needs such as unemployment compensation and health care. They will contribute far more in taxes over their lifetime than those without a college education.