Congress has reauthorized the Higher Education Act, which created the FFEL program, nine times since its inception in 1965. It’s interesting to note that seven of the nine reauthorizations were voted on during presidential election years. 2007 stands out because it’s not an election year. Nonetheless, we’re in the middle of an election, and the Congressional Democrats want to get as much mileage as possible out of this issue.

They want you to believe that they care about how you’re going to pay for college. They want you to know that they don’t want you to accumulate so much student loan debt. Ironically, Congress is part of the reason you have so much debt in the first place.

At each reauthorization, loan and aid caps are set. The current caps were set in 1992. Can you think of anything that costs the same now as it did in 1992? Congress reauthorized the Act in 1998 and 2004. Both times, Congress could have helped you out by increasing lifetime borrowing limits, and loan and grant caps, yet they chose not to. Do you still believe they care about how students are going to pay for college? The last fifteen years of their inaction should give you your answer.

In the best possible case, your Congressional representatives are simply inattentive to the needs of college students when it comes to Federal financial aid, and ignorant of the realities of paying for a higher education. That would explain why they capped Federal financial aid for fifteen years while the cost of tuition soared.

In the worst possible case, Congress understood that capping Federal financial aid would severely restrict the number of students who could attend college, and force them to either look for other funding sources, which Congress did not have to guarantee, or forego college altogether. You see, Congress doesn’t really want to foot the bill for you to go to college. They want to make your college education your problem.

Yes, there is a “public benefit” rationale for the Congress to help pay the cost of going to school, but Congress’ actions in the last 15 years should be a very clear signal that Congress doesn’t want to help you pay for college. They’ve spent far more time crafting college savings plans than they have spent on considering the Federal financial aid formulas. The Congressional Democrats are willing to use the issue for political gain, but once the election is done and there’s no more political capital to be had from this issue, you won’t hear a peep from Congress about financial aid funding.

Congress doesn’t want to help you pay for college. They would much rather have you and your family figure this out by yourselves. Since you have the potential to vote, however, they’ll humor you as long as they can get some political cash along the way. That’s why the Higher Education Act most often comes up for reauthorization during an election year.

Don’t fall for this snake oil that the Congressional Democrats are selling. Tell your representatives in Congress that the best way for them to support the public benefit is to continue the public-private FFELP partnership that has worked for more than 40 years.