Obama vs Romney: student finances

By Ricardo Vargas
Reporter (Fall 2012)

Obama-Romney-Second-Debate-Photo-APThe presidential elections are finally over, and Obama will serve another term. A question that’s on many students minds is, “How will this affect student finances?” and “How would Romney’s presidency have been different?

While the candidates saw some key points differently, they agreed on others. According to an article by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, these are some of their views based on Obama’s past term and on the policies Romney talked about during his campaign:

When it comes to financial aid, Obama wants to increase the budget. During the past four years Pell Grant spending went from $15.4 billion to $34.8 billion, but only about 25 percent of the increase can be attributed to Obama.

Romney believed that increasing Pell Grant spending will only drive up tuition costs. Although he stated during the debates that he would not cut educational spending, the educational policy report that he released suggested otherwise.

Both Obama and Romney believe in lowering tuition cost. They agreed in rewarding institutions that lower their tuition and punishing those who raise it. They also agreed that students and parents need to be better informed about tuition costs and financial aid. They would accomplish this by making information more accessible and easier to interpret.

Whether Obama’s policies will benefit students, we’ll have to wait to find out. Whether Romney’s policies would have been better, we might never know.