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02.14.07 | Pell Grant Controversy
There has been a lot of buzz lately about President Bush’s proposal to increase the annual Pell Grant awards, while simultaneously eliminating the FSEOG (Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant)…His proposal is to:
- Increase the current annual limit of $4050 to $4310 per student for the upcoming school year
- For Fall 2008 school year, increase the Pell Grant to $4600 per student
- Over the following 5 years, increase the Pell Grant to $5400
So, lets back up a bit…for those of you who are not familiar with the Pell Grant…it is a Federal Grant that was created in 1973 by a then Rhode Island Senator, Claiborne Pell…It was created to provide funds to U.S. College students who needed financial aid in order to attend college. The Pell Grant is basically “free money”. It does not need to be paid back…UNLESS..you are awarded the grant at the beginning of a semester…then you decide to drop your classes, or drop below halftime. This changes your eligibility for the grant, and it must be either be returned or paid back.
Back to the controversy….it is a pretty common pattern that when you get more of something, there is usually something else that suffers from it. So to get more in the Pell Grant, the Bush administration must cut other grant programs to pay for it…although not as well known as the Pell Grant, these other grants still help out many financially needy students.
So this is what it comes down to: an increase in the Pell Grant is good news, but financial aid administrators and students do not want the other Federal Grant programs to be eliminated…here is what I was thinking: perhaps over the next 7 year increase of the Pell, it will make up the difference of money lost from the elimination of smaller federal grant programs? Opinions…comments?
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