Rodney Dangerfield used to say that he was so unpopular as a kid that his mom had to tie a pork chop around his neck to get the dog to play with him. George Miller’s STAR Amendment is a pork chop for the FDLP. The amendment to the College Student Relief Act of 2007 “rewards” institutions for joining the Federal loan program. Why does Congressman Miller feel it necessary to “reward” institutions for participating in the Federal Direct Loan Program? This amendment doesn’t propose “rewards” or even enticements. It’s legislative racketeering at its worst.

There must be something about a program that currently only 11 percent participation from all of the eligible institutions in the United States find “rewarding” to participate in. The proposal offers to make payments to institutions to participate. Yes, you read that correctly. The Federal government is now willing to pay institutions to participate in its program.

In exchange for these “reward payments” an institution must agree to direct students through the federal program for five years. This is the same program that 83 percent of colleges and universities have chosen NOT to do business with. Under this program, they’ll be forced to foist this federal boondoggle off on their students, in exchange for a “reward payment”.

The “reward payments” are to be used by the institution to supplement the Pell grants given to students. If the goal of the “reward” is to increase the amount of a student’s Pell Grant, why doesn’t Rep. Miller simply increase the limits on Pell Grants and leave the colleges and universities out of it?

So the “reward payments” will be funded to the tune of 50 percent of the “savings” generated by shoehorning students into the FDLP and away from the FFELP. But what happens if the “savings” aren’t as big as Rep. Miller thought they would be? Less money for students, in case you were wondering. What happens if there are no savings at all? Fifty percent of nothing is still nothing.

Rep. Miller isn’t willing to put real numbers in his bill because there are no real numbers to be had. He has no idea what kind of funding this will generate for the program, nor are there any provisions for increasing student loan funding when the so-called “savings” don’t meet the growing demand for student loans.

To show how fiscally responsible this program is, Rep. Miller has established limits on the distributions of the “reward payments” to the colleges and universities. These “rewards” cannot exceed these so-called savings. Once the savings are gone, kids, there are no more federal monies to be had. If Rep. Miller’s plan doesn’t generate enough funding, you’re out of luck and the federal government WILL NOT step in to correct its mistakes. Why? By law, they cannot. The Federal government prohibits itself from disbursing more money for student loans under this program. This law prescribes a hard cap on the funds available for student loans and details a ridiculous pro rata formula for determining the “haves” and “have-nots” when the funding runs short.

Hypothetically, say that the changes in this program are so spectacular that more students want to go to college. But wait! There’s no money for more students. Why? Once again, Congress has constructed a program that pegs funding to a particular point in time. This plan makes no accommodations for inflation, increases in tuition and fees, or increased participation in the program.

Regardless of the impact of the STAR Amendment, the number of students headed to college is increasing. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that high school enrollment for grades 9-12 will increase by 3 percent between 2003 and 2015. Enrollment for elementary school students is growing even faster, so the high school enrollment boost is not just a temporary thing. Elementary enrollment for the same period is expected to grow by 7 percent. The NCES has also predicted that minority enrollments in colleges and universities will increase between 6 and 42 percent, depending up on the minority classification.

Colleges and universities are expecting a student boom and Rep. Miller is preparing for a bust. More qualified students than ever before are approaching college age and Rep. Miller’s plan is painfully and structurally under-capitalized. Not only is there not enough federal funding to cover the upcoming student surge, but also the plan irresponsibly steers students and institutions away from the well-funded, well-prepared, successful FFELP program to the FDL Program, which everyone admits is a dud.

Don’t be swayed by the false promises of reduced student loan rates. The program as presented is unworkable. It’s deficit spending adorned with a pork chop necklace to get students and their institutions to play with the highly unpopular and under-funded FDLP. If you don’t want your student loan choices restricted, take one minute to call or write your senator and your representative. Tell them in no uncertain terms that you want choice and flexibility in a well-funded, well-run student loan program. Please act now.

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.