The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, newly commended by the House of Representatives, will bring some definite changes to the way some students pay for college. This act will soon become a law once President Obama signs the bill. The changes it will bring will be distinct, but not necessarily make a huge impact, nor immediately.

The bill will enhance federal Pell grants first, which are are awarded mainly to lower to middle income families. A majority of those who benefit come from homes whose annual income was lower than $30,000 during the 2005-2006 year. These grants will expand from $5,350 this school year to a maximum $5,550 in the next school year. This will eventually grow to $5,975 by 2017. The grants will be tied into the cost of living in that 2013-2017 gap, which will be increasing along with the Consumer Price Index. The bill will invest $36 billion in these grants within the next 10 years.

Repaying loans will also eventually be made easier. Those who borrow will be able to cap their monthly payments to 10 percent of their unrestricted income after 2014. That will be a decrease from the 15 percent they presently pay. The only other thing is that those who are borrowing through the Stafford Loan Program, as well as parents who are borrowing from the parent loan program and graduate students who are borrowing though the graduate PLUS program will have to sign new documents on their loans. The money for both the grants as well as the federal programs will come from the exclusion of financial support from private banks who are deemed inefficient middlemen.

As of the 2008-09 school year, 67.8 percent of students at CCSU received financial aid. While 17 percent receive federal grants, a whopping 57 percent use student loans. There are also several different awards and scholarships to apply to, including Pell grants and several different levels of Stafford Loans.

Initially, there are not too many immediate negatives that come with the new act. It will smooth out the rough spots that the private banks bring. Lowering payments is rarely a bad thing in the short term and it creates more financial opportunities for students to apply for. It is well known that many CCSU students pay for their own tuition and work through school, and perhaps this bill will allow them to make easier, smaller payments in the future.

Yet, at the same time, these changes aren’t drastic. While the bill could make the financial situation easier in the short term for students, it is not a gigantic boost to the amount of money that those applying will receive. A $200 bump for Pell grants is hardly a significant increase.

All of the good intentions are clear, and the changes will be specific, but they aren’t as big as they probably could be. Although it will make a small impact, it is more money than there was before and less of it will be pouring out of students’ pockets.