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On March 30, President Barack Obama went down to Northern Virginia Community College to sign what many in the media were calling his “health bill”. True, a giant portion of the bill revolved around the controversial insurance reform, but that wasn’t all this monumental piece of legislation was about. It also had to do with education and both traditional and online college grants and money for college possibilities will come into play.

If you were to ask the general public what was the actual title of the bill Obama signed, don’t be surprised if you get a blank stare. It’s actually called “The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act”. Most media pundits grossly ignored the second half of that title. What’s important is if it goes as planned it could have a very big impact on education, including online colleges.

Admittedly, a considerable amount of the bill has to do with elementary and secondary schools. Yet it is hard to deny the current American education system must be reformed from the ground up. You can’t have students ready for graduate and post-graduate work if they can’t read when they graduate high school.

What will have the most impact on the college level begins with grant for online school reform. When they were first initiated by then President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, the loan money came directly from the government, which also handled all the administration aspects of the program.

As time progressed and the administrations changed, it was decided it would save the government money if the administrative aspects were handled by banks. That turned out to not be the case when the banks started charging higher interest rates than the history of the entire program, as much as 19%. In the end more loans defaulted than ever before. Couple this with the current economic recession and the student loan program was hemorrhaging tax payer dollars.

One key aspect of the new Obama plan is it cuts out the banking middle men, again returning the student loan system completely back into the Board of Education’s hands. Obama expects that not only will there be less defaults because the interest rates will be lowered, but the profits generated from these loans will be plowed back into increasing the Pell Grant and related financial aid programs.

That isn’t all the President will do with the savings, either. He announced a portion of money saved will go to online and community colleges. This is because these schools simply cost as much as 60% less than the bigger universities. If the community college has an online division, that’s even better. All the school has to prove is it is an accredited Title IV institution.

“For a long time, our student loan system has worked for banks and financial institutions,” Obama said that day. “Today, we’re finally making our student loan system work for students and our families…we can rightly say the foundation on which America’s future will be built is stronger than it was one year ago.

As the rules for lending, scholarships and college grants and scholarships are changing, all avenues should be explored. Find out what is available with online college grants and see if corporate sponsorship, private grants, or other means are compatible with your needs. Don’t overlook grants and scholarships, a backbone of financial aid for those who qualify.