FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

WHEREAS, the Reagan budget proposes reductions in federal support for higher education that will damage our nation's primary resource--the intelligence and energy of its aspiring youth and adult learners; and

WHEREAS, fifteen years of progress toward increasing opportunities for access to universities and colleges for less economically fortunate students is endangered by this program of retrenchment; and

WHEREAS, the American Federation of Teachers strongly opposes the substitution of tuition tax credits for adequately funded higher education programs; and

WHEREAS, the proposed federal budget will prevent thousands of students from entering higher education and force many presently enrolled to withdraw because they are ineligible for assistance through Pell Grants and other current entitlements:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers continue its efforts to protect the current higher education programs that maximize opportunities for student access, particularly Pell Grants, and to work effectively with other organizations who share the same legislative goals.