The only problem with it is there is a small group of people out there who make a lot of money under the current system, he said. This includes the bank lobby, but principally just a few large banks.

Simon said the direct loan program has made it possible to allow students to repay student loans at a rate proportionate to their income after graduation, which he hopes will result in students entering lower-paid occupations, such as teaching.

Under the old system, students had to pay a flat rate regardless of their income, he said.

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This encouraged students to enter higher-paid occupations to pay off the loan. Under the direct loan program, students who want to be teachers will be more able to do that.

Efforts in Congress to cap or limit the direct loan program failed in the conference committee this year, but other proposed cuts totaling $10 billion were passed, including the elimination of interest subsidies for graduate and professional students.

Loan subsidies pay the interest on federal loans while students are in school.

Without this subsidy, 1,822 graduate and professional students at SIUC will pay between $1,100 and $1,700 more per year for education, according to figures released by Britton.

The Perkins Capital Contribution was eliminated in this year’s budget, resulting in a $696,642 decrease in Perkins Loans at SIUC this year, according to Britton.

This is equal to a decrease of $754 per student receiving money through the program.

The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, which Britton said was in danger of being cut in the budget compromise, was maintained at its current levels, along with the Pell Grant program.

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The FSEOG provides financial aid to SIUC’s most needy students, and without it many students may not have been able to attend SIUC, according to Britton.

The budget resolution passed by the conference committee last week will be passed on to the appropriations committee, where the final cuts will be made.

While they are not bound by specific cuts in the budget resolution, they are required to maintain the $10 billion in savings to the federal government mandated in the budget resolution, according to a document released by the Midwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.