In the 2012 election, President Obama promoted his work in “making college more affordable.”

“We’ve expanded Pell Grants for millions of people, including millions of young women,” said the president in a recent interview with the New York Times.

But the increase of federal aid is not helping the economy. As the government has made it increasingly possible for all students to borrow from it, colleges have been prompted to raise tuition, leading to heightened amounts of student debt among Americans. According to USA Today, college tuition has increased by 1,120% since 1978.

This progression is not stopping anytime soon. According to the College Board, the government gave out $110.3 billion dollars for student aid. Yet, a Bloomberg report has found that tuition prices are going up four times faster than the consumer price index. What is the correlation between government assistance programs and skyrocketing college costs?

According to the New York Times article, Obama has sharply increased aid to low- and middle-income students, notably through the Pell Grant program, which grew from $14.6 billion given to 6 million students in 2008, to nearly $40 billion for almost 10 million students this year.

The problem clearly has to do with the government being too invested in giving out federal aid, notably with the FAFSA program. As a college bound student, I understand that it is important for each high school senior to receive monetary assistance for college loans. However, I think the government should be more selective in determining who applies for grants such as the Pell.

There is obviously a need among many motivated students whose parents have little to no income to receive extra help for their next four years. Yet, the government should realize that there are millions of scholarship dollars waiting for hard-working American students to take advantage of.

The government’s endowment of money on each senior is noble, but it cannot pay for every student without taking a toll on the deficit. The government ought to rely on scholarships like the Questbridge to supply some of the monies for a postsecondary education, too.

Even though he was not elected for president, Mitt Romney had a reasonable solution to the issue of federal student aid. According to the New York Times, his campaign idea was to “refocus Pell Grant dollars on the students that need them most.” This would encourage more motivation and hard work among students vying for their college education to be funded. While the government should provide money for each American, it should not be treated as or feel it should be the only source for students to turn to.

If the government gave out less money to college bound students, as I feel it should, there would be more room in the budget to deal with cutting the deficit, further developing health technology and keeping the nation safe. The government could also choose to invest in American education in secondary schools, such as improving math and science programs, in which the country is weakening.  

By offering the Pell Grant only to the students of the lowest income and those who are in dire need, those borderline students would be forced to work harder as far as grades to qualify for higher performance scholarships. Then the government could separate those who really need the Pell to those who could just use a little more scholarship aid.

According to the New York Times article, college costs have risen dramatically, up almost $15,000 from a decade earlier.

But, if the government were to take a more passive role in the issue of U.S college funding, it would drive students to work to achieve on their own terms and decrease idleness in high schoolers looking to the feds as a safety cushion. Maybe college admissions boards would at that point recognize undergraduates as a group interested in furthering their education as well as forking over money to their chosen institution.

Only then, I believe, would federal spending on U.S education have a means to decrease. This would encourage a higher percentage of high school upperclassmen to approach their postsecondary education more diligently, as well as counteract the greed of America’s college system.