Responding to the May 18 editorial “In Our View — Priorities Straight,” the passage of Senate Bill 6029 was a step in the right direction. I want to thank Sen. Annette Cleveland, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Sen. Ann Rivers, and Reps. Liz Pike, Paul Harris, Monica Stonier and Sharon Wylie for supporting this bill and for working together to protect students against predatory lenders and for protecting consumers’ rights. I implore them to also look at the increasing costs of tuition.
There should be consideration of lowering the cost of higher education and expanding grants like the Pell Grant, and Washington State Needs Grant, so there would be no need for such loans. Raising the parental income for state education grants would expand the number of people who currently are eligible for assistance through these programs. Currently many people (under the age of 26) are required to forgo college because their parents make just over the maximum income requirement to receive financial aid, but cannot afford to pay for their tuition. Often families have two or more children in college at the same time, which should also be taken into consideration when looking at expected family contributions.
