Obama Student Aid Overhaul Is A Limited Achievement

 The strategy of attaching the student aid bill to the health bill worked in terms of passing something big. The private lenders were excluded from making government guaranteed loans, and this type of lending will come directly from The US Education Department. This will lower student interest costs, and help college completion. But the  small increases in the Pell grants were not what Obama wanted, and essentially keeps the program where it is now in terms of the maximum grant. There is no additional legislative strategy visible to help the Pell grants keep up with tuition increases.