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The first opposition to President Obama’s health care reform bill push in the Congress came from the state of Idaho which is growing into a larger coalition rapidly. Their contention is that the bill is truly an unconstitutional act.

There is also no denying that there is an increasing burden on students due to the budget cuts by states. They are forced to pay higher tuition fees. Now, where is the compromise?

Looking at it closely, the answer is strikingly simple. Health care reform bill definitely has added value to America’s health care scenario apart from completely revamping the student loan system.
According to a New York Times report, President Obama said that all the high drama has completely obliterated the higher education scenario and what is happening there. He was speaking at the Northern Virginia Community College.

The aim of student loan revision is essentially to eliminate the middlemen and divert the funds spent on them towards enhancing student loans. At present banks and other private institutions are being paid by the Federal government to disburse loan to university and college students. According to this new legislation, the loans will be provided to students directly by the government.

This will provide the government with an estimated savings of at least $68 billion in 11 years. These savings will then be passed to students through Pell grants. In other words, money will be taken away from the middleman and pumped directly into the system of higher education thereby benefiting students to a great extent.

This will also help restructure the system of repayment. At present, students have to repay after their living expenses, 15% of their income. The restructured bill will cap repayment at 10% greatly easing the burden on them.

According to restructured repayment plan, 25 year loan forgiveness will be reduced now to 20 years if the instalments are paid on a regular basis for students who find work with public services such as military service, nursing or teaching.

It is quite confusing as to why Idaho government should oppose the health care reform bill that will greatly benefit BSU students in procuring loans with ease, especially since they face at least 9% tuition fee hike.

The restructured student loan system will enhance Pell Grant program by 7.2% by the year 2017, which means it, will be increased from $5550 to $5975. This will enable the government to provide grants to 82,000 more students.

Pell Grants are not required to be repaid and are offered to the most financially backward students who cannot otherwise afford college education. This will be a great blessing for the less fortunate, especially now when tuition fees are constantly on the rise.

Is the opposition to the bill stemming from a nonchalant attitude that dictates them to simply rebel against any move by the government, irrespective of whether it is beneficial or not? If so, the state government must seriously rethink their policies and act in general welfare of the people.