Magician David Young employs Pell Grant vanishing trick before speaking at school where hundreds of students received Pell Grants
One-Term Wonder Congressman David Young is desperately trying to spin his support for damaging cuts to student aid – an early indication that he’s feeling the heat ahead of his commencement address at Iowa Western Community College. This morning, Politico reported that Young’s office is saying he “voted to sustain Pell Grants for the next 10 years.” POOF! All reality appears to have disappeared. But not even amateur magician David Young can fool Iowa’s students with his latest sleight of hand.
Let’s take look at the facts:
- Young supports elimination of $84 Billion from Pell Grant program
- Young supports reversing the expansion of successful Pay As You Earn (PAYE) plan
- Young supports potentially DOUBLING loan burden for those in PAYE
- Young supports erasing $2,500 tax credit helping low & moderate income students
- In 2013-14 school years, 18,100 students in Iowa’s 3rd district received Pell Grants
“Congressman Young is seriously out-of-touch if he thinks families in his district are okay with him slashing student aid,” said DCCC Communications Director Matt Thornton. “The bottom line is that Young is supporting making college less affordable for Iowa’s students – a fact that he is going to be forced to reckon with throughout his reelection.”
BACKGROUND
More Than Half Of Iowa Western Community College Students Received Pell Grants In Most Recent Statistics. According to Iowa Western Community College, in 2009, 601 of IWCC’s 1199 full time students received Pell Grants. [IWCC, accessed 5/14/15]
Young Voted To Make “Big Cuts” To Pell Grants For Students In Iowa’s Third Congressional District. In March 2015, Young voted in favor of final passage of the House Republican budget. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “the plan contains big cuts in Pell Grants, which help children from families with modest incomes afford college … the plan would freeze the maximum grant level for ten years even as tuition and room and board costs continued to rise, and then cut Pell Grants in other ways as well.” According to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, in the 2013-14 school year 18,100 students in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District received $60.2 million in federal Pell Grants.[H Con Res 27, Vote #142, 3/25/15, CBPP, 3/17/15; NAICU, 4/01/15]
Young Voted For The Final Republican Budget, Which Would Eliminate More Than $84 Billion From Pell Grant Program. In April 2015, Young voted for the final version of the Budget, which called for locking in sequestration and “more than $84 billion would come from eliminating mandatory funding for the Pell grant program, which provides tuition assistance for low- and middle-income students.” [S Con Res 11, Vote #183, 4/30/15; Education Week, 5/7/15]
Final Republican Budget Would Reverse Expansion Of Pay As You Earn Program And Could Double The Student Loan Payments Of Borrowers. According to the Washington Post the Republican Budget “calls for the reversal of President Obama’s expansion of a student loan program that caps a borrower’s monthly bill at 10 percent of income and forgives the debt after 20 years of payment. That income-driven plan, known as Pay As You Earn (PAYE), is part of a suite of repayment options that’s supposed to prevent borrowers from defaulting on their loans, a problem faced by about 20 percent of people repaying college debt…An analysis by TICAS concludes that the Republican budget could double the student loan payments of borrowers enrolling in PAYE. [Wonk Blog, Washington Post, 5/7/15]
Republican Budget Would Let American Opportunity Tax Credit Expire. According to House Budget Committee Democrats the Republican Budget “lets the American Opportunity Tax Credit expire after next year, eliminating a $2,500 tax credit that helps more than 10 million low- and moderate-income students pay for college each year.” [Democrats, Committee on the Budget, 4/30/15]