A recent study conducted by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators shows that college graduates stand to make over a million dollars more than non-graduates do throughout their working career. The investments students make in their degrees are worth it, even with the higher cost of going to college.

Congress’ new plan to fund higher education is going to change all of that. It’s not clear that the new plan is adequately funded to accommodate the expected increase of students in the next ten years. The program that Congress is pushing is already in the hole by more than $16 billion and is hemorrhaging money right and left.

The funding for student loans is not guaranteed. Congress can re-allocate that money any time it chooses to and for any reason, with or without notice. If the funding priorities change in Washington, millions of American college students could kiss their funding goodbye.

Worse, the new program eliminates most current lenders, and makes staying in the program so unattractive that even those lenders that can afford to stay in the program will choose not to. Congress is under funding student financial aid, and has been doing so for many years. Under the new program, they’ll also be cutting off the option that many students have turned to in order to compensate for Congress’ reduced commitment to funding student financial aid.

Make no mistake about it. You will have far fewer options to fund a college education, thanks to this new legislation. The mechanism that you thought you could count on is going to be taken away. In the process, Congress has jeopardized the future of many promising students, and will consign many of them to lives of poverty and struggle.

When higher education isn’t available to most prospective students because they lack a credible funding mechanism to finance their goals, you’ll have Senator Kennedy and the Congressional Democrats to thank. Just remember, they don’t care about how you’re planning to get through college, or whether you have enough funding. If they did, they wouldn’t have let the Federal financial aid caps rot in place for so long.

Tell your representatives in Congress that you want stable, equitable and accessible funding for higher education, like that which is available through the FFELP lenders.