Senator Obama, when he wasn’t too busy campaigning for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, made some statements about student aid. Oh, actually I think he made the statements as part of his campaign for the nomination. It’s nice he can do both jobs at once. And how efficient! He can use the official website of the U.S. Senate to post his self-serving statements and claim its part of his duty as a Senator. It’s a good thing none of the Senators looking for the nomination would use pending legislation as a political stepping stone instead of looking out for the interests of the people they represent! That would be like banks offering student loans with rebates and reasonable terms because they want to create customer loyalty. If the Illinois Junior Senator did something like that it would be hypocrisy!

So what did Obama say? “…it is not a coincidence that as the banks’ profits have increased so has the loan burden for college students.” He is absolutely right. Tuition goes up, grants stay stagnant, and banks pick up the difference. The lenders perform a service and they make a little money doing it. That’s because they CAN make a profit doing it. Apparently it’s ok for the private subcontractors to make a profit, but not for the private banks.

In that same statement Obama had another sound bite worth repeating:

“We must create incentives, not penalties, for students who aren’t fortunate enough to have someone else pay for their higher education. While students in need used to be able to rely on federal grants to cover nearly all of their college costs, they are increasingly forced to rely on private lenders that charge higher rates over longer terms.”

Incentives? You mean like the rebates private lenders can currently offer? Penalties? You mean like the government taking away the student’s freewill? Again, as much as I hate to say it, he’s right about federal grants. Federal Grants haven’t kept pace with the rise in tuition costs. And he is also correct that private lenders charge higher rates than grants since you don’t have to pay grants back. Yes, Senator, 0% is lower than a government mandated percentage. I’m sure your parents are very proud of your Ivy League education now that you can use a number line. I can also say, from personal experience, it takes longer to pay back something rather than nothing. I’m not sure how his theory of giving away money is economically feasible, but I’m sure he’ll have a press release about it once his campaign advisors figure out how to spin it.

We are opposed to the proposed student loan legislation and middle-class families should be too! The government is taking money out of YOUR POCKET.

It only takes one minute to make a difference: call your senators, send your senators an e-mail, download a letter to fax to your senators, become part of our petition and help your friends find out the truth about the proposed student loan legislation.