The Federal Pell Grant Program is buckling under the costs college students’ increased need for financial aid as more than seven million students applied for federal aid in 2010, 1.5 million more than applied in 2009.
The program benefits students of low-income families, who are guaranteed a Pell grant award to help fund their college education. However, students requesting aid for the 2011-12 academic year may significantly less than expected, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The number of students requesting aid is also projected to increase by 4.2 percent for the 2012-13 school year.
“There has been some real seat change,” said Colin Riley, spokesman for Boston University. “The federal government is taking banks out of the federal loan program, most money is coming from the Department of Education.”
In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama urged Congress to make college more affordable for young Americans, stressing the creation of a permanent tuition tax credit that would be equivalent to $10,000 for four years of college.
Within the past year, BU has given more in financial aid than ever before. The percentage of students in the class of 2009 receiving aid reached 52 percent, 3 percent more than the previous class, said President Robert Brown in his 2010 State of the University letter.
“The most needy certainly not getting enough funding could definitely be a problem,” Riley said. “BU works hard to provide resources to those who qualify because we know they are strong students.”
The federal government plans to increase the maximum Pell grant award for this academic year to $5,550, a $200 increase from the 2009-10 academic year, according to William Taggart, the chief operating officer for the Office of Federal Student Aid in a 2010 Department of Education report.
Despite the increase of funds for the Pell grant program, the money for each student will be more wide ly distributed due to the increase of eligible
applicants, according to the report.
Sen. Richard Durbin (D – Illinois) along with lobbyists in Washington, are pushing for the continuation of aid for students who “need it the most.”
“I think [the Pell grant increase] is effective but I don’t think that it is the most effective because the funds could easily deteriorate,” said Evan White, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore.
In a speech to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Durbin blamed the spike in number of Pell grants on the detrimental economy, as more students are attending college as a means to boost income.
“More students are going to school, or going back to school…and hard times have made more people eligible for Pell grants,” Durbin said in the speech.
“It doesn’t have to be the highest priced school,” said Casey Boutillier, a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences sophomore. “If you don’t get a college degree in this economy then you won’t get any money.”
With the high cost of private institutions, more students are coming out of college in debt hundreds of thousands of dollars. Durbin asked the NAICU to consider bettering the education system itself as opposed to leaving students with the “burden of student debts.”
“It would be nicer to have grants than loans,” Boutillier said.
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