Bush Proposes Surprisingly Low Pell Grant Hike

The Bush administration has announced that it plans to increase maximum allowable Pell Grants by only $100 per student for fiscal year 2002-03, an amount that has disappointed financial aid officials.

Top-end awards will increase from $3,750 to $3,850 -- a rise of less than .027 percent in payments from the government's primary undergraduate aid vehicle, which serves 4 million college students nationwide.

Bush will increase Pell Grant funding by $1 billion -- but the funding will have to cover an increased number of applicants.

Other student-aid programs, such as College Work-Study and Perkins Loans, are slated for no increase under the proposal.

But among the Bush provisions, the modesty of Pell Grant increases came as perhaps the biggest disappointment to financial aid professionals, who had thought a $200 or even $300 per-year payment increase was possible.

Bush campaigned on increasing the maximum Pell Grant by $1,800 for only freshmen during the 2000 election.

Brian Fitzgerald, staff director for the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, said, "Any time you have a president who made higher-education funding a campaign issue, you have to be let down when the funding doesn't come through."

Bush first proposed an increase to $5,100 in allowable Pell Grant payments for freshmen, with lesser payments during the final three years of study during the presidential campaign.

But according to Robert Samors, UNC-system vice president for federal relations, Bush's plan to "front-load" Pell Grant money -- give larger payments to freshmen -- likely would have caused an increase in postfreshman dropouts.

"The administration was approached by the higher education community and persuaded to keep Pell Grant payments evenly spread," Samors said. "It's good the administration took our views into account on the question of front-loading aid. It's bad we're left with only a $100 increase."

Shirley Ort, UNC-Chapel Hill scholarships and student aid director, said the news is not quite as bad as it seems because the $100 increase is only in the maximum allowable award.

"Some students get the maximum grant and others get lesser amounts, depending upon individual financial circumstances." Ort said average UNC-CH recipients will likely receive an additional $247 in Pell Grant payments during the 2002-03 fiscal year.

But officials emphasized that federal budget negotiations are just getting under way and that chances to identify more funding are not yet exhausted.

Fitzgerald said education is caught in a competition of values within the new administration.

"You have to keep in mind that Bush also campaigned on a $1.6 trillion tax cut," he said. "That's a powerful influence."

Fitzgerald pointed out a Senate budget resolution being spearheaded by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, to take $250 billion from the Bush tax-cut plan and give it to education funding.

Larry Zaglaniczny, director of congressional affairs for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Officers, agreed it is too soon to tell what the final numbers will be.

"This is only the president's first 100 days in office," Zaglaniczny said. "There's a long way to go and a lot of time left before a budget will be passed."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.