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Opinion
White House Proposes $9.2 Billion Education Cut
N
o one ever said that
higher
education
wouldn’t cost money.
Across the country, tui-
tion is steadily rising and stu-
dents are taking longer to pay
off their student loans.
Today, 44 million consum-
ers share $1.4 trillion in bor-
rowed student debt — more
than double what it was in
2008. On average, graduat-
ing seniors with a bachelor’s
degree begin their careers
with about $30,000 in student
loans, while graduate stu-
dents are almost assured of
incurring six-figure student
debt.
All of these financial bur-
dens have been acquired
against a backdrop of an in-
creasingly competitive global
economy.
The 21st century market-
place is also dependent upon
a highly-skilled workforce.
Gone are the days when man-
ufacturing could provide a
steady and comfortable liv-
ing. From steel to textiles
and more, global competition
requires America to work
smarter and harder.
So why would the Trump
Administration propose a
$9.2 billion cut in education?
Over the next decade, the
White House wants to ‘save’
$143 billion from college loan
programs, including an end
to $26.8 billion in subsidized
loans. Currently, Pell Grants,
designed to assist low-income
Charlene
Crowell
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Columnist
students, are capped at less
than $6,000 per scholastic
year despite the average cost
of tuition at a public college
for its own state students ap-
proaching $10,000 per year.
Here’s one White House ex-
planation on how less access
“
Certainly, education budget
cuts will not ‘make America
great again’.
Two days later and on the
floor of the U.S. Senate, a di-
verging view was spoken,
“Let’s give struggling stu-
dents a fair chance,” said Illi-
nois’ Senator Richard Durbin.
“We are seeing an increase
in the wealth gap between col-
lege graduates with student
debt and those without stu-
dent debt”, Durbin continued.
“The burdens of student debt
are threatening the notion
that being college-educated is
Student loan debt is the kind of
debt that could potentially follow
borrowers to the grave
to higher education going to
help the nation’s ability to re-
main economically competi-
tive.
“We’re no longer going to
measure compassion by the
number of programs or the
number of people on those
programs, but by the number
of people we help get off of
those programs,” said White
House Budget Director Mick
Mulvaney during a May 23
press briefing.
It seems like the White
House is really averse to more
Americans receiving a higher
education at a time when col-
lege costs and its resulting
debt are on an upward trajec-
tory.
enough to get ahead.”
Sen. Durbin went on to
share the story of a Chicago
constituent, the first in her
family to attend college, who
appealed to his office for help.
The majority of the for-
mer student’s debts totaling
$120,000 were private loans
with high interest rates and
monthly payments that were
just as costly.
The student also felt she
had no chance of financial im-
provement due to an ill-con-
ceived enactment of a bill that
prevented such debts being
discharged in bankruptcy.
Since 2005, student loan
debt, unlike other types of un-
secured debt cannot be a part
of a bankruptcy filing. In oth-
er words, it’s the kind of debt
that could potentially follow
borrowers to the grave.
The Fairness for Struggling
Students Act of 2017 (S. 1262),
introduced by Sen. Durbin
and co-sponsored by 11 other
Senators would allow finan-
cially struggling borrows to
discharge private student
loans in bankruptcy.
The law is anticipated to re-
lieve high-cost private loans
that seldom come with many
of the flexible repayment
terms offered by federal ones.
Some private student loans
come with variable interest
rates, high origination fees
and scant — if any — repay-
ment options.
Already the bill has attract-
ed the support of a large coa-
lition of educational, student,
civil rights and consumer or-
ganizations that include: the
United Negro College Fund
(UNCF), NAACP, the Ameri-
can Federation of Teachers,
the Empire Justice Center,
National Association of Stu-
dent Financial Aid Adminis-
trators, and the Center for Re-
sponsible Lending (CRL).
According to the Consum-
er Financial Protection Bu-
reau (CFPB), in 2012, at least
850,000 private loan bor-
rowers were in default in the
amount of $8 billion.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
Nooses on National Mall Echo Domestic Terrorism
U
.S. Park Police con-
firmed that another
noose was found on
the National Mall, last
week, according to ABC News.
Late last month, a portion
of the Smithsonian’s National
Museum of African Amer-
ican History and Culture
(NMAAHC) in Washington,
D.C., was closed for nearly
three hours after a noose was
found in a gallery, officials
said.
The museum, on the Nation-
al Mall near the White House,
reopened fully later that day,
after police deemed the area
“safe and secure,” according
to an internal memo provided
to ABC News by the Smithso-
nian.
In an article posted to the
Smithsonian’s, museum offi-
cials said that the noose is a
reminder of “America’s dark
history with lynching” and
referred to similar incidents
of noose sightings around the
country including at a school
in Missouri, a construction
site in Maryland, on the cam-
pus of Duke University, at a
fraternity house on Univer-
sity of Maryland’s campus, at
a middle school in Maryland
and at a high school in Lake-
wood, California.
Tourists found the noose in
Lauren
Victoria
Burke
NNPA
Columnist
the museum’s exhibit on seg-
regation.
The incident at NMAAHC
occurred after a noose was
found on May 26 hanging
from a tree outside the Hirsh-
horn Museum, which is locat-
“
ed outside of a window.
“Let me be clear: This was
an offensive act that has no
place in our school. The im-
agery is deeply offensive and
everyone in our school com-
munity should be appalled,”
said Principal Malik Bazzell,
as reported by on Raleigh TV.
During a rally at the a park
named after Confederate Civ-
il War General Robert E. Lee
Charlottesville, Va., on May
13, participants with torches
chanted “Russia is our friend”
and “you shall not erase us.”
Tourists found the noose in the
museum’s exhibit on segregation
ed close to the Black History
museum.
In an email to museum staff-
ers, Lonnie Bunch, the direc-
tor of NMAAHC, said that the
incident is a painful reminder
of the challenges that African
Americans continue to face.
“The noose has long rep-
resented a deplorable act of
cowardice and depravity—a
symbol of extreme violence
for African-Americans,” said
Bunch.
On May 30, at Wakefield
High School in Raleigh, N.C.
a Black doll with a noose
around its neck was suspend-
According to ThinkProg-
ress.org, the rally was in
response to “the state’s de-
cision to sell off a statue of
treasonous general Robert E.
Lee, who led the Confederate
Army of Northern Virgin-
ia against the United States
during the Civil War.”
ThinkProgress.org also re-
ported, “Charlottesville May-
or Mike Signer condemned
the rally and its attendees.”
On May 26, in Portland, Or-
egon, a man named Jeremy
Christian hurled anti-Mus-
lim vitriol on a subway train
at two young women, then
murdered two men who
intervened, Taliesin Nam-
kai-Meche, 23, and Ricky Best,
53, and injured a third, Micah
Fletcher.
On May 20, Richard Collins,
23 year-old second lieutenant
in the Army, was stabbed to
death by University of Mary-
land student Sean Urbanski,
22, as Collins waited with
friends for a ride. Lt. Collins
was about to graduate from
Bowie State University on
May 23. The FBI is investigat-
ing the murder as a possible
hate crime and it has already
been reported that Urbans-
ki was a member of an “alt-
right” group on Facebook.
On the eve of the NBA Finals,
Cleveland Cavaliers star LeB-
ron James’ Los Angeles home
was vandalized; the “N-word”
was written with spray paint
on his house.
“Just shows that racism
will always be a part of the
world, part of America. Hate
in America, especially for
African-Americans, is living
every day. It is hidden most
days. It is alive every single
day,” James told reporters.
“No matter how much money
you have, how famous you
are, how much people admire
you, being Black in America
is tough.”
