The Debt Ceiling Debate

President Obama signed the Budget Control Act into law on August 2, 2011.  This  legislation increased the federal debt ceiling and prevented the United States from defaulting on current financial obligations.

On December 23, 2011, President Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 (Public Law 112-74).  The new law significantly impacts the Federal student aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA).  Learn about these changes.

• FACT SHEET: President Obama’s Blueprint for Keeping College Affordable and Within Reach for All Americans (January 27, 2012)
• Statement from the Student Aid Alliance on the Debt Ceiling Deal
• Myths and Facts About the Debt Ceiling Compromise  (The White House )

 Proposals That Impact Students

• Congress Raises Debt Ceiling, with Shifts and Cuts in Student Aid Funding
• What May Happen Next in the Budget Debate

The Pell Grant program faces an $11 billion shortfall for award year 2012-13, making it a key budget target during deficit reduction talks.  In his Fiscal Year 2012 budget request, President Obama proposed plugging part of that shortfall through the Pell Grant Protection Act (PPA). The plan would lower the cost of the Pell program and other student aid programs to maintain the maximum Pell award and pay down the program deficit.  (NOTE: As of June 21, 2011, 905 Loyola University students had been awarded Pell Grant funds for the 2010-2011 year )

• Preserving the Federal Pell Grant Program
• Federal Student Loans Program Changes effective with the 2012-2013 year:

Take Action Now to Preserve Federal Student Aid Funding

Student aid funding, particularly the Pell Grant program, has been targeted for cuts by some republicans.  Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) has compared Pell Grants to “welfare” according to The Hill:

“So you can go to college on Pell Grants — maybe I should not be telling anybody this because it’s turning out to be the welfare of the 21st century,” Rehberg told Blog Talk Radio in April. “You can go to school, collect your Pell Grants, get food stamps, low-income energy assistance, Section 8 housing, and all of a sudden we find ourselves subsidizing people that don’t have to graduate from college.”

As a Catholic and Jesuit institution, Loyola is committed the cause of social justice.  We encourage our students to participate in the electoral process as it is critical in living a life as "men and women for others" who are aware of  the needs of  all members of society.

• Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship:A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States
  • Bishops to House: Budget Cannot Rely on Disproportionate Cuts in Services to Poor Persons, Requires Shared Sacrifice by All (July 26, 2011) --
    • "The moral measure of this budget debate is not which party wins or which powerful interests prevail, but rather how those who are jobless, hungry, homeless or poor are treated. Their voices are too often missing in these debates, but they have the most compelling moral claim on our consciences and our common resources"
• Jesuits Join With Other Religious Leaders to Protect Programs for Poor During the Debt Crisis Debate (August 1, 2011)
  • A budget moral framework: 
    What is more important than debt, deficit, and tax reduction? by Fr. Fred Kammer, SJ [JustSouth E-Newsletter, April 2011]

  • Economics or morality?
    When a budget is not an economics exercise by Fr. Fred Kammer, SJ [JustSouth E-Newsletter, February 2011]

    • "Over and over again Catholic teaching stresses the responsibility of government for the local, national, and global common good and the duty to protect and lift up the poor and vulnerable. Such moral duties and responsibilities are now on the line in Washington. "
  • Debt Deal Heaps Heavier Burdens on the Most Vulnerable Americans,  by Alex White  [JustSouth E-Newsletter, September 2011]

Updated April 15, 2012