Ron Paul plans to 'eventually' end all federal student aid

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul told NBC's David Gregory Sunday that he would "eventually" end all federal aid to students.

"As you well know, you have a lot of support among young people," Gregory noted. "They're borrowing to pay for college at record levels. Would you abolish all federal student aid?"

"Eventually," Paul admitted. "But my program doesn't do it. There's a transition in this."

"But that's your ultimate aim?" Gregory wondered.

"Yes," Paul replied. "Because there's no authority to do this and just think of all this willingness to want to help every student to get a college education. So, they're a trillion dollars in debt, we don't have any jobs for them, the quality of education has gone down. So, it's a failed program."

Last week in Las Vegas, Paul put forth his plan to slash $1 trillion from the federal budget by ending the departments of Energy, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce and Interior. The Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration and Department of Defense would also see deep cuts.

Watch this video from NBC's Meet the Press, broadcast Oct. 23, 2011.

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