As part of Democrats’ promise to pass measures important to middle-class Americans within the first 100 legislative hours of this term, House Democrats introduced a bill Friday which seeks to cut the interest rates for Stafford Loans by half over the next five years.

The Lantern supports this measure because it is an effort to decrease the pressure of debt which students face in paying for a college education, but there is more work to be done.

According to New York Times article “House Democrats Propose Cut in Student Loan Rates,” the average college graduate owes almost $18,000. The article cites the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Higher Education Project as saying 75 percent of students holding Stafford loans as coming from families with incomes just above the median annual income for a family of four, which is $67,000.

Although reaching out to the 5.5 million students who receive Stafford loans each year, this measure caters to the middle class while neglecting the lower class, for whom Pell Grants operate.

Student loans do not seek to reduce the burden of paying for a college education, they merely push it aside for a later time. Our country once lived in an era in which students who could not afford to pay for college simply did not go. Student loans have been effective in ensuring some students the opportunity to earn a college education and in turn secure more lucrative employment after graduation.

These loans have worked as a bridge in a time of transition. Now it is time to take the next step.

Republican leaders have placed the responsibility for rising tuition costs with the universities themselves. When applied to the context of public universities, The Lantern could not agree more. As state institutions, the responsibility for ensuring an affordable education rests with the state legislature and executive in which the state operates, and the nation which benefits from an educated people.

If politicians’ elections were decided on the success of education in our country, we would have success in education.

We recognize that the Democrats’ measure is good politics. It shows it is hard at work on the issues of the people and it is serving the interests for which they were elected. But we don’t need good political moves, we need real, significant change.

If the leadership wants to be bold, if it wants to make an impression, if it wants to send a message to the people of this country that it is serious about the issues, then get serious about finding solutions and working toward ambitious goals.

We always hear politicians talking about being bipartisan, working together and crossing the aisle to affect real change. We need that because, apparently, neither side can or will do it alone. The Lantern urges the people of Ohio and the United States to remain focused on the goal of education affordable for every American, and not allow itself to be bought off with a single measure.