The House of Representatives’ recently proposed budget includes possible cuts in education, which will affect financial aid. If approved, Federal Pell Grants given to Temple students will drastically decrease.
Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid.org, said in an e-mail that Temple students who receive Pell Grants will lose $845 out of their grant if this budget cut is approved.
Kantrowitz also said these cuts may cause some previously eligible students to lose their Pell Grants altogether.
“When need-based grants fail to keep pace with increases in college costs, it makes low- and moderate-income families more sensitive to college costs, causing them to shift their enrollment from nonprofits to public colleges and from four-year colleges to two-year colleges,” Kantrowitz added.
A Pell Grant is a federal grant that, unlike a loan, does not have to be repaid. Pell Grants are awarded usually to undergraduate students on a need-basis.
Kantrowitz said he feels that instead of cutting funding for Pell Grants, the government should be increasing it.
“I think cutting the Pell Grant program is bad public policy. It is the student aid program that is best targeted at needy students,” Kantrowitz said. “Rather than cutting the maximum Pell Grant, we should be doubling it. If we doubled the maximum Pell Grant, an additional 300,000 to 400,000 low-income students would graduate with bachelor’s degrees each year.”
-Christie-Ann Goelz
I am a current undergraduate student receiving the Federal Pell Grant at Kennesaw State University. I come from a lower income family and if the grant is cut or eliminated I will be forced to drop out of college. I propose that instead of cutting the grant, possibly making the restrictions on receiving it higher. That being said, I feel that students already receiving the grant should be “grandfathered in” seeing that other students like myself rely on the grant for our education. The way things stand for me (and many other students), if I am forced out of school I will not only have to find a lower income level career path, but I will also go into default on my Federal Stafford Loans and I will be forced to begin paying them back without having a career suitable to do so. Cutting or eliminating the Pell Grant will cause a lot of problems for a lot of college students across the country. If there is trouble in the budget, perhaps there are other areas aside from education that can be looked into.
I completely agree with that statement. I think our government should look into cutting budgets in other areas. Education is crucial in todays society and cutting the budget for education will only cause more problems within the economy. Thanks for your comments.