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Opinion
The Battalion
Page 9 • Tuesday, November 4,
Those money woes
Higher Education and Affordability and Equity Act helps manage student costs
JOHN DAVID
BLAKLEY
More than 50 years ago in his Commission
on Higher Education, Former President Harry
Truman declared that “the American people
should set as their ultimate goal an educational
system in which at no level — high school,
college, graduate school or professional school
— will a qualified individual in any part of the
country encounter an insuperable economic
barrier to the attainment of the kind of educa
tion suited to his aptitudes and interests.” To
many college-bound American students today,
this economic barrier is still real. In many unfortunate circum
stances, the sole obstruction between young men and women and
the substantial benefits of a college education is not a lack of
intellect, but a lack of wealth.
In a country in which higher education has become a requisite
fora middle-class income and standard of living, access to this
education should be an aspiration within the reach of all who
exert themselves. In an admirable act of bipartisanship, Rep.
Rush Holt, D-N.J., and Rep. Phil English, R-Penn., have spon
sored a bill that will make paying for college less arduous for
young people and their families.
The Higher Education and Affordability and Equity Act, as a
whole, provides needed tax relief to students and parents paying
for college. One of the more important facets of the act is the
permanent retention of the educational provisions included in the
Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.
Taken together, these education provisions will provide more
than $29 billion in benefits over 10 years, according to the
American Council on Education.
Currently, the Student Loan Interest Deduction caps the
amount of interest on student loans that can be deducted from a
person’s taxes at $2,500. All college students have heard horror
stories from former students who, years after graduation, are still
paying off student loans and the consequential interest. If passed,
the Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act would expand
the Student Loan Interest Deduction to allow borrowers a full
deduction of the interest on their student loans.
At present, all scholarships, fellowships and grants are only
tax exempt if used for tuition, required fees and books.
However, the assistantships are designed for students to use for
the general cost of living expenses during college. The
Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act
proposes an expansion of this exemp
tion to include the cost of
education in its entirety,
including room and
board, computers, trans
portation, meal plans and
research expenses.
Coverdell Education
Savings Accounts are a popu
lar method parents use
to save money for
their child’s future
college education.
These accounts allow
persons to make an annual
contribution to an account designat
ed for a specific
student under 18
years of age. The incen
tive of such an account is that any growth and withdrawals,
if used for qualified higher education expenses, are free from
federal income taxes. Under the Higher Education Affordability
and Equity Act, the annual contribution limits to these accounts
would increase from $2,000 to $5,000. According to the Princeton
Review, the average cost of a year’s tuition, room and board, and
subsequent fees will increase by $10,000 in the next 15 years.
Savings accounts designed for saving money going to college
education should be able to allow contributions that reflect the
growing costs of higher education.
The Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act is a sen
sible alternative to the Affordability in Higher Education Act
recently introduced into Congress. This bill, proposed by Rep.
Howard McKoen, R-Calif., penalizes universities for tuition
increases, when in reality most of the time universities are not
to blame for these increases. The penalties for universities with
tuition increases, if the rise is greater than two times the rate of
inflation, is a loss of Title IV programs designed to provide
financial aid to students. McKeon’s plan would, as means to
protect students from tuition increase, cut financial aid to stu
dents.
The Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act would
help relieve the growing financial burden of college placed on
students and their families. Even more importantly, the act can,
in some situations, decide whether a deserving student is able to
attend college.
John David Blakley is a sophomore
political science major.
MAIL CALL
Abortion ends an
innocent life
In response to Jonathan Steed’s
Oct. 3 column:
Mr. Steed continually attempted to
divert the reader’s attention from the
issue at hand. Regardless of the
rhetoric infused on both sides, the
central subject of debate does not
change. The issue: abortion. The
to an innocent life is ended.
Steed falsely claimed that the term
“partial-birth abortion” is a product
of “anti-choice propaganda.”
However, if you go to the Intelihealth
Web site, and look up the term par
tial-birth abortion in the medical dic
tionary search tools, it is defined as,
a n abortion in the second or third
trimester of pregnancy in which the
death of the fetus is induced after it
has passed partway through the
hirth canal.”
What then, Mr. Steed, should this
pruesome procedure be called?
^e child is delivered, the abortion-
lst Punctures the back of the skull, a
tube is inserted, and the child’s
brains are sucked out. Once the
body goes limp, the child is fully
delivered. In truth, this barbaric pro
cedure should not be named “par-
hal-birth abortion.” It should be
Ca lled infanticide.
Amber Matchen
Class of 2000
Wines will always
0c cur, not an excuse
Although I do not doubt that Mr.
teed did research in this subject
e tore he wrote the article, I find
s °rTe discrepancies in his report and
,he actual bill itself. Where Mr. Steed
^Plains that partial-birth abortions
0LJ ld make the right of the mother to
srrrinate her pregnancy on grounds
i her own physical well-being illegal,
18 completely false.
th t 16 must under stand, as well,
a P ar fi a l-birth abortions happen
h ate in the pregnancy that the
V would be able to live if given
c chance with the medical tech-
'° l0 9y here in the United States.
s °’ I am absolutely disgusted in
® quote that was extracted in such
' ar 9er context, “Whether illegal or
I ’ Portions will always happen,”
even a viable excuse to keeping
thp° rti0ns le 9 a *’ l- ’ e is exact| y ri 9 ht in
quote but that’s like saying,
nether illegal or not, rape will
always happen,” or “Whether illegal
or not, murder will always happen,
“because those crimes still happen
too. But, should we allow rape and
murder to be legal for the rights of
those who commit those acts? The
fact of the matter is whether illegal
or not anything will happen, but it
doesn’t make it acceptable.
Kerri Vance
Class of 2006
The unborn deserve
same rights as living
It is obvious to me that Mr. Steed,
like a growing number of Americans
today, has swallowed the idea that a
human is not a human until it is born.
1 think this is the real tragedy in our
culture today. It is a shame that we live
in a country today that will hail a piece
of rock with petrified bacteria from
Mars as life, yet not give that same
term of dignity to a child in the womb.
It is a shame that we live in a town
today that will give a funeral with full
military honors to a dead dog but not
to the children who are aborted every
month right down the road. It’s
because we have become a nation of
selfish individuals. 95 percent of the
abortions performed in the United
States are done as a means of birth
control, not for any sort of medical
reasons. We are so overwhelmingly
concerned with ourselves and our
ambitions that we refuse to slow our
lives down. We want the joy of sex
without the natural responsibility that
comes with it.
We whine and cry and protest
when someone actually stands up
for what is right.
Jason Ferguson
Class of 2005
Choice exists before
third trimester
Partial birth abortions are banned
once a woman enters the third
trimester, and the only time they can
receive an abortion is when her
health is in jeopardy. To quote from
the bill itself, “Partial Birth Ban Act
2003, Amends the Federal criminal
code to prohibit any physician or
other individual from knowingly per
forming a partial-birth abortion,
except when necessary to save the
life of a mother that is endangered by
a physical disorder, illness or injury.”
This is no serious assault on a
woman’s right to choose, all it does
is put a time table on it. If you want
an abortion, do it before the third
trimester. It’s that simple. The Partial
birth abortion procedure isn’t men
tioned in medical textbooks,
because they don’t teach the proce
dure— requiring piercing the fetus’
brain and sucking it out with a vacu
um — in medical school.
Nicholas Davis
Class 2004
Activists skew the
public's perceptions
Mr. Steed defends a woman’s right
“to choose when and where to start
a family.” For that I must thank him; it
is a very important right to defend.
Unfortunately, like many other
abortion proponents, Mr. Steed uses
this precious right as a guise to pro
tect abortion. However, banning
abortion helps women, and does not
deny them reproductive rights.
Abortion is not a valid option. It
kills an innocent child. Conception
creates new human life, and abor
tion murders that life. Abortion also
hurts the women and men involved.
Many promote abortion in the case
of rape or incest, desiring to help the
victims of these horrible crimes; how
ever, they are unwittingly adding to the
suffering of these already devastated
women. Studies show that keeping
the baby often helps a woman over
come the pain inflicted upon her, while
abortion actually increases the
woman’s mental anguish.
The truth is that women’s rights
are only really defended when abor
tion is no longer thrust upon them
as a viable option, with the tragic
truth hidden from them by avid
abortion activists.
David Dunton
President Aggies for Life
Class of 2005
Low attendance
ruins Aggie spirit
Texas A&M is a special place; a
University full of tradition and a spirit
that no one else can understand. I
take a tremendous amount of pride
in participating in traditions that
thousands of Aggies before me have
done. I think about E. King Gil when
I stand the entire football game as a
member of the Twelfth Man. After
seeing pictures of the student side
from this weekend, I discovered that
some of my fellow students decided
they didn’t need to join the Twelfth
Man this game. It was one of the
most disgusting things I have ever
seen: two ends of the third deck
completely empty. Is the Spirit of
Aggieland dying? After what I have
seen this past weekend it is obvious
to me that it is. To those of you who
weren’t at the game: Where were
you? We need you, our football team
needs you, your Aggie family needs
you. Don’t let the Spirit die; be a
Fightin’Texas Aggie.
Tony Carver
Class of 2004
Football team staying
protects tradition
In response to an Oct. 31 mail call:
Football players staying is a tradi
tion, and should not be thrown to the
curb like all the other wonderful tradi
tions such as Bonfire, mums at each
game for your date. Each game is a
homecoming, but unfortunately many
of you youngsters didn’t know this. To
make the statement that the football
players are more Aggie than many of
the students is also an insult to the
student body. Most of the players
probably don’t really care about the
wonderful traditions that my
University holds so dear.
Remember young man, the football
team is part of the student body, so it
is their responsibility to participate in
'the yell practice also. One other thing
Army, it is a junior and senior privilege
to whoop. What has happened to the
class distinction regarding wildcat-
ting? It’s not just a Corps thing.
Hood Mauermann
Class of 1985
Playing the game
serves as no excuse
It is not ridiculous for any member
of the Twelfth Man to expect the
team to attend the singing of the
War Hymn after the football game,
win or lose. Why if we are asked to
be “the Twelfth Man on the team,”
can we not expect them to at least
partially participate in the Aggie War
Hymn immediately after the game?
The team did for the game against
Kansas, which I thank them for.
We do not discount their hard
work on and off the field when ask
ing them to stay for the War Hymn,
but to start judging how much
“more” they are an Aggie because
they play sports is just plain wrong.
We, in the stands, are just as much
of an Aggie as the ones on the field,
and asking the team to stay to sing
a song in unity with the student
body, “the Twelfth Man on the team,”
is not asking much.
After all, aren’t we all Aggies, one
in the same?
John Book
Class of 2007
The Battalion encourages letters to the
editor. Letters must be 200 words or less
and include the author’s name, class
and phone number. The opinion editor
reserves the right to edit letters for length,
style and accuracy. Letters may be submit
ted in person at 014 Reed McDonald with
a valid student ID. Letters also may be
mailed to: 014 Reed McDonald, MS 1111,
Texas A&M University, College Station,
TX 77843-1111. Fax: (979) 845-2647
Email: mailcaIl@thebattalion.net