Students depending on federal financial aid may have to find other means of paying tuition costs next year as a result of a Nov. 20 bill passed by Congress. Education advocates say it will shift a higher percentage of college costs to students and their families.

While the bill provides an overall $1.4 billion increase in federal aid funds for a total of $57 billion to the U.S. Department of Education, the average amount of individual student aid is expected to decrease. Due to increasing demand, the maximum Pell Grant award will remain at $4,050 for the third consecutive year, despite a $458 million increase in the program’s funding and rising university expenses.

As many as 1.2 million students could see their Pell Grants reduced and 85,000 of the 5.2 million currently eligible students could lose them completely under the bill, according to the American Council on Education.

By passing the federal appropriations bill H.R. 4818, Congress allows the Department of Education to adjust its formula in determining qualifications for financial aid, a move that lawmakers blocked last year. The awarding of financial aid is currently based on 1988 state income tax tables, assessing a household’s Expected Family Contribution from 17-year old data, when tax rates in many states were much higher than they are now. In updating the tables, the Department of Education would ask families to pay more toward college than they are now because it would appear, under the formula, they are paying less in taxes.

The government’s independent Advisory Committee on Financial Assistance estimated that the move will save the Pell Grant program and the Department of Education close to $300 million per year.

During debate on the bill, Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N. J.) said that he expects the new formula to harm student financial aid. Corzine had offered an amendment to the bill forbidding the increases, but lawmakers later rejected his proposal.

“We should be expanding opportunities for college in America, not eliminating opportunities for students to seek financial aid,” Corzine said. “It is now clear to me that this was a backdoor attempt to cut funding from the Pell Grant program. I call on the president to rescind the rule and ensure that no students lose their Pell Grants. … We need to expand opportunity in this country, not relegate it to only those who can afford it.”

However, Chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) applauded the revision as a way to address the nearly $3.7 billion deficit in the Pell Grant program.

“Continuing to use this outdated information could mean shortchanging eligible students and deepening the Pell Grant budget shortfall,” Boehner stated in a press release put out by the committee. “If the administration decides to proceed with its original plans to stop the use of this outdated information, it will have my strong support. If the department continues to use the 1988 tables, it’s conceivable the current Pell Grant budget shortfall will be deepened by hundreds of millions of dollars — and as a result, it may be many more years before Congress can again increase the maximum Pell Grant award that goes to our nation’s neediest students.”

In a letter to outgoing Secretary of Education Rod Paige, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators President Dallas Martin suggested that changing the tax tables for the 2005-06 academic year would violate federal statute, which requires the Department of Education to announce proposed rule changes by a June 2004 deadline.

“I’m certain that untold numbers of current students may need to drop out temporarily if new rules are enacted,” Martin stated.

In addition to Pell Grant eliminations, the bill calls for a $100 million cut in the Perkins Loan Program, a campus-based program that provides low-interest loans to undergraduate, graduate and professional students. Since its inception, more than 10 million students have received more than $15 billion in loans from the Perkins program, according to the Student Aid Alliance.

“There are two components to the Perkins Loan program, and one was completely eliminated for 2005,” said Sang Han, assistant director for federal relations for the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. “The appropriations are not a huge success. I don’t think you would begin to call them a huge win for the higher education community.”

Student aid and education funding comprised one of nine bills in the omnibus appropriations legislation passed for the 2005 fiscal year.

“This is a lean and clean package that adheres to the budgetary limits agreed to by the Congress and the president,” Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) said. “We have resisted many requests for additions to the package that would have busted the budget by billions of dollars.”

However, California Student Public Interest Research Group’s higher education advocate Merriah Fairchild accused lawmakers of trying to balance the budget on the backs of students in a statement from the organization.

“Behind closed doors, Congress decided to pay for budget shortfalls out of the pockets of students,” Fairchild stated.