FY ’04 Budget Resolution Letter

Letter to House Members RE: FY ’04 Budget Resolution

March 17, 2003

RE: Defeat FY ’04 Budget Resolution

Dear Representative:

I write on behalf of the American Council on Education and the higher education associations listed below which represent the nation’s community and technical colleges, two- and four-year public and private colleges, research universities, labs and medical centers. We strongly urge you to defeat the FY 2004 Budget Resolution reported last week by the House Budget Committee.
This resolution is extremely shortsighted and unbalanced. If adopted, the resolution would surely and severely threaten progress toward meeting America’s near term and long-range education and research goals. By assuming deep cuts not only in discretionary federal student aid programs like Pell Grants, but also requiring nearly $10 billion in cuts in the federal student loan programs, this budget literally leaves families with no where to turn to enable their children to stay in or go to college. The resolution would also impede exciting research underway on our campuses that holds out the promise of breakthroughs in combating deadly diseases.
A significant additional problem with the FY ’04 Budget Resolution is that it seems to have been crafted with no regard to the bleak overall fiscal situation the nation faces. Higher education institutions and college students everywhere have been hard hit by budget cutbacks in nearly all fifty states. College and university endowment investments have plummeted as stock values have declined and individual gift giving is significantly lower than in years past. Family finances have been decimated by the economy and the loss of jobs, shrinking savings, and increased consumer debt. This is not the time for the federal government to curtail its investments in programs that contribute so much to America’s future strength and prosperity.

We urge you to defeat this resolution, and to replace it with one that makes possible continued investments in vital student aid and research programs.

Sincerely,
David Ward
President
DW/cms

On behalf of:

American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers
American Association of Community Colleges
American Association of State Colleges and Universities
American Council on Education
Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
Council of Graduate Schools
National Association of College and University Business Officers
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
United Negro College Fund