Congress wants you to believe that these changes it has planned for the student loan lending program are not going to have a big impact on you, the borrower. If you do a quick search on the news headlines, you’ll find a lot of articles that say just this.

Don’t believe it. The impact on borrowers will be “swift, certain and severe.” First, aid that used to go to the majority of student loan borrowers will now go to fund the paltry increases in Pell Grants for low-income students. Eight of ten students rely on FFELP lenders, and Congress plans to redirect that money away from the majority of borrowers. If your family income is more than about $40,000 per year, there will be less Federal aid available for you. Sorry, but that’s the price of being “rich.”

The number of participating lenders will be reduced from hundreds to maybe as few as ten. Most FFELP lenders will be thrown out of the program by the untested, as-yet-to-be-developed auction called for under the Kennedy plan. The largest lenders may possibly be able to survive, but most lenders will find that their already slim margins (as little as $0.04 for every $10 loaned) will be cut beyond the point where it’s viable to participate in the program at all.

The amount of aid offered by the Federal government will not cover the wild increases in tuition seen at many public colleges and universities. There will be a growing “unmet need” which represents the difference between the cost of tuition, room and board, books and other supplies, and the amount covered in the financial aid package.

With no FFELP lenders to turn to, parents and students will be forced to consider using high-cost credit cards and other riskier loans to cover the gap in aid. As the gap grows, so will the reliance on risky borrowing practices. This will jeopardize the financial stability and well being of students and their families, and reduce the overall access to higher education.

This legislation that Congress has passed is a bad idea, one that will put middle-class American families at risk. It doesn’t have to be this way. Contact your representatives in Congress and tell them that the student loan “reforms” are not worth the consequences they’ll bring. Tell them to address the real problem, which is the high cost of college tuition.