2008 Woodie Awards
Bush's 2008 Budget Seeks to Add 20 Billion to Pell Grants
Tanisha Mathis
Issue date: 2/12/07 Section: Holt News
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to $4,600. President Bush's proposed income would be the largest in three decades
to the Pell grant.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings made the announcement at an education
conference at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Increasing the Pell
grant was part of Spellings'2006 national Commission on the Future of Higher Education recommendations.
Democrats in the Senate have asked for an immediate increase to $5,100 for the
2007-2008 academic year. The bill, S.359, would also add another $300 to the maximum
grant annually until it reaches $6,300 by fall 2011. Sen. Edward Kennedy (DMA)
introduced the bill January 24, 2007. The bill has been read twice and is currently before the Commitee on Finance.
Whether students should thank the House, Senate or the president they seem destined to receive more help in financing their education. It will be the first increase in the Pell grant in five years.
However, education advocates warn this may not be as great as it appears on the surface. One question remains. Will the
increase in Pell grants come at the
expense of other fi nancial aid programs?
"If this represents an actual increase in total need-based student, it will be great news," says Terry Hartle, senior vice president of American Council on Education.
But "it is quite possible…individual
students could be less well off " if supplemental grant programs are cut.
Luke Swarthout, an higher education advocate with a public interest group, commended the announcement by Spellings but
is waiting to see how the increase
will be funded. "Provided that
the administration is not robbing
Peter to pay 'Pell', this could be a
very meaningful increase for lowincome
students all across the country," he says.
On Feb. 5 the White House announced more specifically how its wants to fund the proposed $20 billion increase in Pell grants. It wants to cut back on the "excessive or unnecessary subsidies"
paid to student lenders, reduce loan guarantees and cut how the amount of money guaranty agencies are allowed to keep when
they collect on defaulted loans. Under Bush's proposal the maximum Pell grant would be $5,400 by the year 2012.
Last month, the House of Representatives approved a bill to cut the interest rates of student loan in half. The bill also called for reductions in loan subsidies
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