Bennett Sees ‘Divestiture’ of Cars, Stereos

Education Secretary William J. Bennett today defended the Reagan Administration’s plan to cut collegiate student aid, saying the move will force some students to give up their stereos, cars and beach vacations.

Bennett, in his first news conference five days after joining President Reagan’s Cabinet, said the proposed cutoff of loans and grants to more than a million students is fully justified given the federal deficit.

He also said the government should concentrate its help on poor students who could not otherwise afford college rather than making it possible for some to attend expensive private institutions.

Income Limits Proposed

Reagan asked Congress last week to deny guaranteed student loans to all students from families with adjusted gross incomes above $32,500; to eliminate grants, work-study jobs and other aid for those with incomes above $25,000, and to limit to $4,000 a year the maximum federal help any student can draw.

Bennett said the loan cuts would force some families already doing everything they can “to tighten the belt even further.”

“In other circumstances, it may require less sacrifice,” he said. “It may require from some students divestiture of certain sorts: stereo divestiture, automobile divestiture, three-weeks-at-the-beach divestiture.”

Bennett said he was not suggesting “this would be the case in all circumstances, but it will, like the rain, fall on the just and unjust alike.”