THE HOUSE or Representatives struck a highly commendable stand in favor of higher education last week when it passed a budget that aims to increase funding for education programs by $2.2 billion. Against this background it is particularly galling that Senate support for its scaled-down version of the House increases is tenuous at best.

No one knows for sure how much of the $2.2 billion would be earmarked for student financial aid, but Capitol Hill aids put the figure at more than half. Unfortunately, the Senate doesn't view student aid as a very high priority. Under the most widely supported of four Senate budget proposals being considered, some student aid programs would get a $120 million boost, but at the expense of other educational initiatives that help students pay for school, notably Work-Study.

SENATORS EXPLAIN their opposition to the House's support for education in one of two ways. A few echo Education Secretary William J. Bennett's attractive but thin arguments about using scarce education dollars to help primary and secondary schools rather than richer colleges and universities. Others simply talk about the pressing need to reduce the budget.

Education Department officials say that in an era of constricted fiscal resources, what the always entertaining Bennett has labeled "our greedy colleges" should take a backseat to funds to strengthen primary and secondary schools. Administration officials also maintain that since students who receive college degrees almost certainly will make more money than those who don't, there is no need to shed tears for students who take out loans to pay for college.

While America's public school system needs to be drastically improved, this does not mean we should keep resources from higher education to do it. One of our government's greatest achievements has been its effort to make higher education accessible to all.

Progress toward equalizing opportunity for all Americans by improving basic schooling would be significantly undermined if access to college, and consequently the lion's share of the nation's most desireable jobs, is restricted to the sons and daughters of the rich.

And several recent national studies have shown that the skyrocketing debts that many students must assume to go to college limit decisions on careers, marriage and children. It is at least partially because heavy loan payments keep students away from teaching or public service jobs that Bennett's remarks score points at Rotary Clubs functions and Conferences for Western Governors.

MANY SENATORS rightly fear that the growing budget deficit is contributing to America's trade imbalance. But they are looking at the wrong programs to cut.

The House was able to boost education funding $2.2 billion and reduce the budget deficit by $36 billion because it split the cuts equally among social and defense spending and--more importantly--had the guts to call for a tax hike.

But too many Senators think they can solve the twin problems of the deficit and declining American competitiveness painlessly, by shaving money from education. They are wrong. In the long run, every dollar that goes to education serves to boost productivity and thereby lays the foundation for America's future economic health. Keeping access to higher education open to all is not only a matter of equity; it is also a matter of economic efficiency.

Education provides for this country's future, so Americans should be willing to provide for education. It falls upon the Senate to follow the House in rejecting the Administration's strained logic and legislating substantial increases in student financial aid.