Ryan announced as Romney VP pick
When Mitt Romney announced Saturday that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would be his vice presidential candidate, some students and university officials expressed renewed hope the country could be on the road to economic recovery.
But others worry that if Romney and Ryan are elected, Ryan’s budget proposal, which suggests scaling back the number of Pell Grant recipients, cutting federal research grants to universities and overhauling the student lending program, could lead to more difficulty in paying for college.
Many political pundits have pointed to Ryan, who wrote a budget plan for fiscal year 2013 that proposes drastic cuts in government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, as a bold choice for the Republican presidential hopeful. University researchers and professors, however, worry how a Romney-Ryan administration would affect higher education.
As chairman of the House of Representatives’ Budget Committee, Ryan has spearheaded an effort to slash government spending to cut the country’s more than $1 trillion deficit. Members of this university’s chapter of College Republicans said Ryan’s aggressive budget is just what the country needs.
“What hurts initially will put us on the path for better and more competitive strength in the world economy,” said Executive Vice President Derek Zumstein.
Others, however, believe student needs will be ignored if Romney wins the presidency.
“A lot of times with these Republican candidates, they’re out of touch with young people and college students who are struggling to pay for education,” said Tyler Grote, president of this university’s College Democrats.
Congressional Republicans and Democrats, as well as Romney and Obama, all voiced support this summer for legislation, which eventually passed, that froze the interest rate on federally subsidized student loans. However, a bitter debate arose over how to fund the $6.7 billion measure. Although Ryan voted in favor of the bill, he criticized the structure of the federal lending policy in his budget plan and argued that increases in federal aid contribute to the rising cost of tuition.
Public policy school Dean Donald Kettl said the candidate’s limited government approach may favor doing away with the federal lending program.
“It’s a mixed message,” Kettl said. “A huge part of it is a government that’s smaller.”
Ryan’s plan has been criticized as catering to the wealthy by providing tax cuts to those with the highest incomes. Bill Longbrake, the business school’s executive-in-residence, said Ryan holds steady to economic principles.
“There is not just blind ideology driving him,” Longbrake said. “There is pragmatism as well.”
The seven-term congressman’s budget proposal hasn’t specified to what extent it would cut research funding and exactly how federal lending would be restructured, if at all.
Adding Ryan to the Republican ticket reignites the Romney campaign, Kettl said, with a vice presidential nominee who has been one of the most outspoken critics of Obama’s fiscal policies. And it comes at a time when Romney has been trailing Obama in most national polls.
“This really does breathe an enormous amount of life and energy into a campaign that has been struggling,” Kettl said. “[Romney has] really made a big and bold move and it will be interesting to see how it’s going to play out from here.”
bach@umdbk.com
