So they're dumping a bunch of the burden of the budget cuts onto your shoulders.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/politics/22student.html?pagewanted=printStudents to Bear Big Burden Under the Final Budget Bill
By ROBERT PEAR
and MICHAEL JANOFSKY
WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 - Nearly one-third of all the savings in the final budget bill comes from student aid, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.
Under the bill, college students would pay higher interest rates on loans. Many banks will receive lower subsidies. And the Education Department will work with the Internal Revenue Service to ferret out students and parents who underreport incomes on financial aid applications. The budget bill is estimated to save $39.7 billion over the next five years. Student aid accounts for $12.7 billion of the savings, or 32 percent.
...
The Bush administration worked closely with Republicans in Congress on provisions that affect student aid. But Education Secretary Margaret Spellings declined to comment until the bill cleared a final hurdle on Capitol Hill.
Republican negotiators said virtually all the cuts in student aid would be borne by banks and other lenders, an assertion sharply disputed by Democrats and college administrators, who said that two-thirds of the savings would be at the expense of students and their families....