“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics.” – Benjamin Disraeli, via Mark Twain.

Indeed, the Congressional Democrats want to use statistics to slant your view of the “crisis” surrounding student loan debt. They will tell you that educational spending by the Federal government has nearly tripled since 1991, from $35 billion to $95 billion, with most of the increase going to financial aid for college students.

What they won’t tell you is that student loan lending by private lenders has also jumped to cover the gap between Federal financial aid spending and the cost of a college education. Between 1994-95 and 2005-06, unsubsidized Stafford loan lending increased nearly 200 percent, and PLUS loans for parents increased 175 percent. While the number of Federal dollars applied to education has increased, the percentage of Federal money hasn’t kept pace with either costs or private lending. Federal money is a shrinking piece of the student financial aid pie. And subsidized student loans have taken the biggest hit, falling nearly 20 percent. Is the increase in Federal education spending a lie, damn lie or a statistic?

Congressional Democrats will tell you that Federal student aid spending has increased from $9.6 billion to $48 billion since 2001.

What Congressional Democrats won’t tell you is that much of the new spending is the result of loan consolidations. It’s not “new” spending on new students and it doesn’t represent an increased commitment on the part of the Federal government to fund education. It’s an effort to help existing loan holders make their obligations. In fact, analysts expect Federal spending on student aid to level off at about $25 billion. Lie, damn lie or statistic?

Given that Federal spending on education hasn’t kept pace with the increase in the cost of education, and is expected to level off at $25 billion, a figure well below the $48 billion figure they’re pointing to, what is the likely outcome of dumping millions of new participants into a program that has already fallen well behind the pace set by increases in the average cost of college and is expected to cap spending on aid at about $25 billion? Many more participants, much less money to go around. Who’s going to make up the difference? Lie, damn lie, or statistic?

Congress can point to an increase in the number of dollars they spend on education, but they can’t cover the fact that their spending hasn’t kept up with the increases in cost for a college education. The Feds are woefully unprepared to deal with an increased number of participants in Federal aid programs because there are fewer aid dollars to go around.

If you don’t want the Federal student financial aid system thrown into chaos, contact your representatives in Congress now and tell them you prefer to leave the FFELP program intact.

You can make a difference
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Tell your friends the truth about the proposed student loan legislation