Washington lawmakers and the Trump administration passed a major legislative package this summer that will cut funding for programs that help students from low-income backgrounds — making it far harder for these students to afford and complete college, effectively shutting low-income students out of opportunity for achievement.

The leaders behind these cuts claim that they’re necessary to curb wasteful spending and keep higher education accountable. But that line of thinking is woefully misguided — and destructive — for our entire nation.

These changes will make higher education even more exclusive, further shutting low-income students out. And House Republicans just released a budget proposal that would further cut funding.

These policymakers are in effect turning our higher education system into a gated community for the wealthy. If they continue course, millions of young people will lose the opportunity to earn a college degree and build a more financially secure future for themselves and their families. And our workforce will be starved of much-needed qualified employees, choking our nation’s economy.

We can’t let that happen. It is time to invest in a nimble, adaptable and educated population.

It’s important to recognize that even without a single change from Washington, students from low-income backgrounds are already struggling to access and complete college. The gaps in college attendance and completion by family income are both persistent and wide.

That’s partly because of eroding investment in the programs that help the most. Take the Pell Grant program, for example, which provides crucial aid to more than 6 million students each year. At its peak in the 1970s, the maximum Pell Grant covered more than 75 percent of the cost of attending a four-year public college. It now covers less than 30 percent.

On average, students who receive a federal Pell Grant — overwhelmingly from families with incomes below $40,000 — still have almost $10,000 of unmet need. That gap requires so many hours of work to close that it’s nearly impossible for these students to complete college on time.

Read the full article about barriers to higher education for low-income students by Denise Forte and Sameer Gadkaree at The Hechinger Report.