Last week’s congressional spending bills will boost the Pell Grant program’s budget to record levels, with the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate – along with a separate, but similar, proposal made by President George W. Bush – making different recommendations to help develop the nation’s largest need-based aid grant.
One bill passed by the House on Jan. 31 would increase the maximum Pell Grant amount allotted to one student from $4,050 to $4,310 per year starting this fall, and Bush is pushing an even bigger proposal to increase the grant’s cap to $4,600, a move UCSD Financial Aid Director Vincent De Anda said he was not expecting. A Senate proposal would put that level even higher.
“”This is all very positive, a complete change – Congress actually contemplates an increase in the Pell Grant and the president contemplates even bigger increases,”” De Anda said.
About 5.3 million middle- to low-income students collect Pell Grants nationwide. In the 1980s, the maximum grant allowance covered 55 percent of tuition costs at public four-year universities, whereas today’s Pell Grant assists with only 32 percent of expenses. At UCSD, 6,600 students currently receive Pell Grants.
“”The more [funding], the better, of course,”” De Anda said. “”As [the university] gets more Pell Grant increases, I have more money to spread around to students here, so I’m ecstatic that the maximum grants are going up after all these years.””
Although the increase is the largest in over 30 years, the maximum grant is only $260 more – not enough to level out economic inflation, failing to eliminate the devaluation of the Pell Grant in real dollars. Realistically, the university and state are putting more funding into grants than the national government, according to De Anda.
Some higher education advocates, however, are apprehensive about the Pell Grant increase.
“”If this represents an actual increase in total need-based student aid, it will be great news,”” American Council on Education Senior Vice President Terry Hartle stated in a press release. “”[But] it’s quite possible [that] individual students could be less well off.””
In the U.S. Senate, Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), are proposing a 25-percent increase over the current grant cap, to $5,100. Titled the Higher Education Opportunity through Pell Grant Expansion Act, the bill was originally proposed by Obama in March 2005. Modified last week, the H.O.P.E. Act would add an additional $300 to the maximum annually until the grant peaks at $6,300 by fall 2011.
Even with Congress’ tight spending budget for the new fiscal year, the recent spotlight on higher education is encouraging progress for advocates fighting for more college access and affordability, U.S. Public Interest Research Group Higher Education Project Advocate Luke Swarthout said.
“”I certainly think that increase in the maximum Pell Grant is a critical way to help low-income students who aren’t able to access colleges,”” Swarthout said. “”But more needs to be done in order to ensure that [the increase in funding] continues.””
According to De Anda, the new maximum Pell Grant will hopefully encourage more students to go to four-year public universities, keeping loan levels at a minimum – although the cap still isn’t high enough to allow students to take out significantly fewer loans.
