If you’re on federal financial aid, prepare to lose it. (Insert scream here)

Have we gotten your attention yet? No, do not attempt to adjust your newspaper. This warning comes straight from the Bush administration, those wonderful people who brought you “read my lips.”

The Bush administration, already neck-deep in deficit, emerged from budget talks with Congress last week just to say that if Congress failed to implement a responsible deficit-reduction program, government services would face huge, unparalleled cuts next year.

Cutting to the chase, what this means for college students on financial aid is that, basically, more than a million of them could be without it next year.

This could happen because if the amount of money to be spent by the government on federal financial aid was drastically reduced, financial aid eligibility standards would be made drastically tougher, or the amount of money awarded through student loans would become drastically lower.

All this and the Bush administration decided last month it could raise taxes and forgot about “read my lips.”

If Congress and the administration can reach an agreement on the budget, nobody will have to worry about anything. So all this panic might be for nought, but don’t read my lips.