The Katrina disaster was a huge blow to this country. Hundreds are dead. Families lost everything: their jobs, their homes, their social network. The sick and elderly in the region were victimized. Entire industries crumbled; the economic base in the area disappeared, with ramifications throughout the U.S. Colleges were evacuated; flooding and fire damage ensued. Over 10,000 students fled, many dropped out and others enrolled in assisting institutions elsewhere. Jazz ceased and we all bled.

But in the weeks after Labor Day, the country is responding and rebuilding. The pumps are pumping out the floodwaters. Residents are returning to their homes. Donations are pouring in. Citizens are opening up their homes and hearts. Students are arriving on the scene to rebuild homes. Feisty community leaders and business owners are re-emerging.

Despite the enormous challenge of rebuilding economic infrastructure, job opportunities, education and housing, there is hope. The tradition of aid in America toward one another in a time of need has triumphed over the vulnerability and abandonment the storm exposed.

However, Katrina has left us with a bigger question. How did our communities become so vulnerable? These families had no insurance, no access to quality health care, not enough money to get out quickly when an emergency strikes, no savings account and no social network beyond the immediate region to assist them in the face of such incredible loss. In fact, the disaster has exposed to the country the plight of our middle-income and lower- income families all across the country and just how precarious their situations can be.

Millions of families live with the odds stacked against them. They live without cash savings, insurance, the skills of a well-trained work force and access to civic networks that serve communities. We must use the same spirit of aid that has enabled our country to address the immediate needs of the victims after Katrina, to strengthen our social fabric with the same compassion and common vision.

And that is where education comes in. Only one quarter of this country has a college degree, but we know that a college degree creates a skilled work force, a higher salary upon graduation and a stronger likelihood civic structures can flourish to buttress communities from blows over time. Without the opportunity of a college degree, millions of people live with the odds stacked against them.

Now is the time to strengthen this country’s programs for lower and middle income families and students to beat the odds, access affordable education and be better situated to weather storms of all kinds.

Rather than making college more affordable, Congress planned a raid on student aid. This fall, both the House and Senate plan to divert billions of dollars away from students who need it.

The House of Representatives has proposed cutting $9 billion of aid to students by raising interest rates and eliminating borrower benefits; these cuts could cost the average student borrower up to $5,800 in extra interest payments. The Senate will raise interest rates for family loans and divert $7 billion away from the students who need them. All in the name of a deficit reduction package, which actually adds to the deficit once the numbers are calculated.

Millions of students and families come up short of what the federal government estimates they need to pay for college, even after adding up all available federal and state aid, expected family contributions and student work. The typical low-income student falls $3,800 short a year at a four-year school, while the typical middle class student falls $2,300 short.

Yet the way to lead students out of this hole is right in front of Congress. Both chambers could increase Pell Grant funding by $17 billion just by removing inefficiencies in the student loan program. This would raise the Pell Grant scholarship by as much at $1,000.

If the additional cuts proposed above were also recycled back into the aid programs, Congress could markedly increase grant aid further and provide lower interest rates on loans.

This is a golden opportunity to get middle and lower income families and students out of the hole, and for the American people to maintain our tradition of aid and community that has gotten us through the aftermath so far. Let’s hope Congress responds to this spirit.

— Luke Swarthout is a higher education associate with StatePIRG in Washington, D.C.