So, here's the thing......I keep hearing rumors that Bush has depleted all the funds for financial aid........

Question

Does anyone know anything about this? Will there be NO financial aid next year?

Answer 1

The USA was set up so that a single person could never accomplish this.  Even if he is the president.  Of course there will be fin aid next year.  Also, the term "financial aid" is very broad and includes loans, grants, scholarships and any funding you receive from any source to go to college.

Answer 2

Evelyn - I'm no fan of the Bush administration, but I can tell you that your fears about financial aid availability (at least in terms of the government's role) are misfounded. You are quite correct that there have been rumblings about how the instability in the lending industry might eventually spread to educational lending, but the Department of Education (at the urging of Congress) has taken strong and definite steps to insure that financial aid money continues to flow.

On May 21st, the government announced new measures that should completely reassure lenders engaged in educational lending - particularly Sallie Mae, the nation's largest student lender. There are a lot of technical details - if you're interested, I'll refer you to the heavy-duty explanation in the link that I've attached below, but the bottom line is that there will be financial aid next year, and that students should not notice any difference in the availability - at least of government-backed financial aid (particularly Stafford loans).

There will be continued tinkering with the educational aid system - this was really more of a stopgap band-aid than a solution, but I think we'll continue to see progress towards a more stable long-term lending program.

Anyway - I hope that helped!