President George W. Bush released his 2009 budget proposal
on Feb. 4 amid a slew of criticisms by college and university officials
nationwide.
The budget calls for extreme cutbacks in appropriations for
minority- and low-income-serving grant programs, completely eliminating
government funding for 47 programs and cutting back on many more. The Perkins
Loan program, Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarships and the Leveraging Education
Assistance Partnerships programs have all been completely removed from the new
budget for being “duplicative, narrowly focused or unable to demonstrate
effectiveness.”
A $23-million cut from tribally controlled colleges and an
$18-million cut from institutions defined as Hispanic-serving under Title V of
the Higher Education Act — among other reductions — have elicited criticism
from individuals who call the move unfair and say it takes money away from the
most needy students.
“The funds are woefully inadequate to ensure that minority
students stay in and graduate from college,” Selena Singleton, the director of
policy, advocacy and government relations for the National Association for
Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, said in a statement. “With the cost of a
college education increasing, a looming recession and an increasingly global
economy, [these programs] are the only way to ensure that a college degree is
an attainable goal for more students.”
In the past, similar program eliminations proposed by Bush
have resulted in Congress’s declining to fulfill the request.
On the other side, the cuts in these programs have ensured a
$2.6-billion increase to the Pell Grant Program, the biggest source of
financial aid for low-income students. The raise would offer $69 more to each
student per grant awarded, raising the maximum award allocation to $4,800.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said in a
statement that the president’s proposal appropriately addresses the priorities
of students.
“I am pleased the budget calls for increased funding for
Pell Grants, Title I and IDEA,” she said. “All of these programs are essential
to ensuring that our children not only have access to a rigorous education, but
one suited for the global economy.”
However, the maximum Pell Grant award still falls $300 short
of the sum Bush promised to implement in his 2000 presidential campaign, and UC
Office of the President spokesman in Washington, D.C. Chris Harrington said
that a $69 increase is not a sufficient tradeoff for the cuts to other
programs.
“UC opposes the president’s [fiscal year 2009] budget
proposal to freeze or eliminate these vital programs,” he said. “UC supports
increasing the federal investment in student financial aid programs, such as
SEOG, Perkins Loans, LEAP, GAANN and Javits.”
The budget does call for major increases to graduate aid
programs, including $24 million allocated to the new Advancing America Through
Foreign Language Partnerships, a program that aims to create a more
comprehensive American education.
Spellings said these increases will ease the financial
burden on students.
“Higher education is more expensive and more necessary for
future success than ever before,” Spellings said. “This budget provides the
necessary resources for critical programs that equip American students with the
skills they need to compete and succeed in the knowledge-based economy.”
Harrington echoed Spellings’ goal of student success, but he
said that instead of small increases paired with selected cuts, more widespread
expansion of federal aid programs is required in order to maximize
affordability.
“Almost half the UC student body — more than 90,000 students
— receives federal financial aid,” he said. “UC supports significant increases
in these programs to meet students’ needs and to further expand access and
opportunity for low-income students in postsecondary education, as well as for
those pursuing graduate education.”
