Angry debates over state and national budgets have placed higher education in the political crosshairs. The painful cuts facing our public universities and the public support for students attending independent institutions have been well documented. So have abuses by for-profit colleges and individuals who treat financial aid like welfare, collecting money for degrees they have no intention of earning. In tough economic times, these problems have led some to call for wholesale cuts to federal and state grants and programs that enable hundreds of thousands of students from families with limited means to attend college. Clearly these abuses must be stopped and the system made more accountable. But simply slashing funds will only keep the hardworking majority of students—many the