April 25, 2012 01:18 AM UTC

Why Does Coffman Want to Make College Less Affordable?

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• by: ColoradoFairShare

On March 29, Rep. Mike Coffman voted for the Ryan budget, which would cut Pell Grants that go to the neediest students and also assumes that interest rates on federally-backed Stafford loans will double.

But yesterday, he told the Denver Post, “It would be wrong to punish college graduates with a massive interest rate hike on their student loans at a time when they are already struggling in an economy that isn’t producing the jobs where they can earn enough to pay their loans back,” Coffman said in an e-mail.

So Rep. Coffman’s constituents are asking, since he supports the Ryan budget, why does he want to make college less affordable?

According to Crista Laughlin of Aurora, “As a middle-class parent, it’s a struggle to afford the rising cost of college for my children. My daughter just got out of the Navy, and college may be out of reach for my family. I don’t understand why Mike Coffman supports tax breaks for millionaires over needy students in his own district.”

The Ryan budget backed by Coffman would eliminate Pell Grants for one million of the neediest students over the next ten years. Pell Grants are the largest source of federal aid for students and provide about $5500 a year towards the cost of college. According to the Denver Post, approximately 166,000 Colorado students receive federally-subsidized Stafford loans and there are about 149,000 Pell Grants recipients in Colorado who would be affected (per the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities ).