The administration’s recent cuts to federal financial aid for higher education sends a clear message to students: When it comes to paying for college, don’t count on Pell Grants. College students know best how important Pell Grants are – the Pell Grant is the cornerstone of financial aid in this country. But now these new cuts, coupled with the failure to raise Pell Grant award levels to keep up with rising college costs and inflation, are slowly but surely pulling the rug out from under students struggling to afford a college degree.
President George W. Bush talked in his State of the Union address about increasing the size of Pell Grants, but he didn’t talk about the number of students who will lose some or all of their Pell Grant funding because of his administration’s cuts. The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, has estimated that more than 50 percent of Pell Grant recipients in states such as Minnesota will see a reduction in their Pell Grant or lose the Pell Grant entirely.
It doesn’t stop there. The changes will ripple through other financial aid programs. According to the Government Accountability Office, many who receive work-study, Perkins Loans and state grants will see cuts as well.
While we need to be fiscally responsible, we must also do more to help students facing record-high tuition costs. I have been proud to support a number of increases to Pell Grants over the years, but I also know that those changes aren’t enough. We can’t say we have equal access to higher education in this country until Pell Grants start to catch up with the cost of getting a degree.
To give the Pell Grant program the support it deserves, I have joined Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to introduce a resolution that calls the Senate to increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $9,000 per student by 2011.
I also have joined bipartisan efforts calling on the administration to reverse its rollback of this program. Some of this pressure seems to be paying off – the administration’s budget released in February proposes a modest increase to the Pell Grant maximum award (currently $4,050) and an elimination of the program’s current shortfall. But the budget does nothing to stop the rollback that will take money from students and families already struggling.
The choice is simple: Do we make substantial increases to Pell Grants in order to support middle and low-income students’ access to higher education? Or do we tell those trying to achieve a college education they are on their own? Without a strong Pell Grant program, we put a college degree within reach only for those who can pay their own way. That’s a mistake we can’t afford to make.
Sen. Russ Feingold is a Democrat from Wisconsin. Please send comments to [email protected].
