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Backs Against the Wall
adapt their own assistance programs to it—partly because there is a need for consistency and partly because that will enhance enrollment objectives.
Whether changes of this sort will actually occur and, if so, to what extent is hard to predict. But clearly the new federal legislation will add new problems of interpretation and application to those that already exist. Moreover, a conservative Congress bent on reducing the tax burden created by federal financial aid and inclined to relieve pressure on the middle class may not be as sensitive to the problems of poor people as it should be. It therefore behooves those who care about the problems to work with renewed vigor to help resolve them justly and equitably. Toward that end, a higher level of policy-oriented research is indicated, and much more attention should be given to monitoring the use and administration of the aid and loan programs.
Some of the changes and actions suggested in this paper can be undertaken if the institutions and legislative groups to which they apply simply make up their minds to adjust practice and policy. The changes will cost something, but they will not require any major infusion of new funds. Two examples of what can be done at relatively little cost are (1) the elimination of funding inequities where they exist and (2) steps to maximize the use of available loan and aid programs by the neediest people.
Many of the recommendations, however, cannot be implemented without major and immediate new funding. State and federal governments will remain the primary sources of funding for higher education. Yet we are forced to conclude that large-scale new funds are not likely to become available from these sources until there are major improvements in the economy. What government officials can do, at the very least, is to reexamine current patterns of resource allocation, target the resources they have more equitably, and develop criteria for funding that encourage the kinds of liaisons suggested in this paper. Efforts to reduce federal and state budgets must not be allowed to affect educational programs for the needy disproportionately. Although there are disturbing signals that this may happen, such action would amount to short-term savings with dire long-term social and economic consequences.
Still, a substantial infusion of new funds is needed now. Even if state and federal officials can find ways to use available funds more