Boyda amendment helps military families afford college

It's en vogue to say nothing gets done in Washington- both sides say it- but it is sad that that rhetoric makes us ignore some pretty awesome things the current Congress is doing.

Take, for instance, the recently passed College Opportunity and Affordability Act. The bipartisan bill aims to make it cheaper for Americans of every strip to receive a college education- one of those sorts of measures no rational person could oppose.

The base bill was made even better by an amendment penned by Congresswoman Nancy Boyda and Congressman Chet Edwards (D-TX) that pumped in aid specifically for military families.

Boyda said the idea for the amendment came when she and Edwards, who is the chairman of military construction and veteran's affairs, visited Fort Leavenworth a few weeks ago as part of a listening tour.

"There were several things that stood out, that people we talked to said were frustrating," Boyda said. "Kansas has led the nation in helping military families pay for college. Today's amendment extends Kansas' promises to military families across America."

All of the provisions of the amendment can be found in the article linked to above, but as a quick run down, it includes new scholarship money, protections against being forced to pay out-of-state tuition, and freezes student loan interest in certain cases for some active duty service members.

Again, it's sad quality legislation like this bill- made even better by Boyda's amendment- gets ignored in all the partisan bickering. But the issue of college affordability is one this Congress has tackled head on, and has been quite successful.

Boyda said this year's act would combine with last year's College Cost Reduction Act to help all students gain access to college.

"The whole cost of higher education is something that we have really addressed," Boyda said. "It's something that students and their families need to know about. I think it's fantastic."

Oh, and just so our Republican friends don't go into a tizzy about how wasteful the bill is or how poor people shouldn't be able to go to college because it's their own damn fault they're poor- the companion amendment on the Senate side was fostered through by US Senator Pat Roberts. Some ideas are truly beyond reproach.