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August 2, 2011

Debt Ceiling Bill Adds to Student Loan Burden for Grad Students

Thanks to the new debt ceiling deal, grad students will end up paying thousands of dollars more on their student loans in order to finance Pell Grants for low-income undergrad students.

Why does the federal government want to charge grad students for the tuition of undergrads? According to the article:

"Full funding for Pell Grants is absolutely essential to fulfilling the president's goal of the U.S. once again having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020," said Pauline Abernathy, vice president of the Institute for College Access & Success.
Why is it so important to have the most college grads in the world when the U.S. government has already predicted that over 80% of the fastest-growing and most-common occupations of the future will not require a bachelor's degree or higher?