On Tuesday, students gathered in the Ohio Union to talk about the Federal Loan programs with Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy. With more than 311,000 borrowers in the state of Ohio, this topic has become a huge concern for both students and the government.

This roundtable discussion was an opportunity for students to voice their concerns about how changes to the loan program have affected them and also to discuss what can be done to make higher education more affordable.

As part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which President Bush signed into law this past February, interest rates for a variable rate Stafford Loan will increase from 5.29 percent to 7.14 percent and Parent Loan for Undergraduates (PLUS) will increase from 6.09 percent to 7.94 percent, according to the Great Lakes Loan Association in Madison, Wisc.

The federal government announced this increase May 30 and set the deadline of July 1 for the increase to take effect. In order to lock in to the low interest rates, students must consolidate their loans by Friday. Loan consolidation, however, is not for everyone. On a consolidated loan, one’s monthly payment may be lower and the amount of time to repay may be extended beyond what was available in each separate loan program. The drawback to this is that recent graduates who chose to consolidate will forgo the typical six month grace period before repayment starts.

Students who attended Kilroy’s talk raised their concerns about how the current amount of grants and loans available are insufficient. Many students said they feel like they must have a full-time job along with their full-time schooling to avoid being thousands of dollars in debt with no guarantee of a job upon graduation. Kilroy said she believes that everyone who wants a higher education should be able to get one.

“We need to make higher education a priority by increasing loans and grants and lowering interest rates,” Kilroy said. “The talent pool is being left behind if we don’t open doors to higher education.”

Another problem brought up by students was that the FAFSA and the rest of the process does not take into consideration certain circumstances affecting criteria to relieve financial aid such as job loss or bad credit. Kilroy said the current actions being taken by the president are unnecessary. She said the money being saved by the government is being handed to gas and oil companies, and that this problem is something that should not only anger students but also insult them.

Kilroy said the government should be making sure that the future is bright for students.

According to some students present at the meeting, they are forced to think twice before applying to graduate school because at times the government spends money elsewhere that could be better used for education. It has become a lose-lose situation for both the government and the students. If a new graduate starts their post-school life thousands of dollars in debt, they will have no extra money to put back into the economy. If they consolidate now, they are forced to pay back their loans immediately, and because many students graduate without a guaranteed job, they run the risk of defaulting on payments.

“The students are our future,” Kilroy said.