College Aid Cutbacks (Pell Grants) - NYTimes Editorial

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College Aid Cutbacks
NYTimes Editorial
Published: November 1, 2006


"Pell Grants are one of the largest sources of federal help for low-income college students, and the most valuable form of aid, because the money doesn’t have to be paid back. But the level of aid is increasingly out of sync with the level of need.

Last week, the College Board reported that Pell Grants fell last year, for the first time in six years. The cuts were about $100 a year per recipient, on average, and came on top of other miserliness. It’s been four years since Congress last increased the maximum annual Pell Grant — by a mere $50 — bringing the top grant for a student who has no parental support to $4,050. Meanwhile, college costs are up 35 percent from five years ago. Tuition and fees at a typical four-year public university are closing in on $6,000 this year.

The recent cutbacks were set in motion in 2004, when the Department of Education reduced the number of students deemed eligible for Pell Grants and the amounts they were qualified to receive. Pell Grants now cover about a third of the average costs at a four-year public school, compared with 42 percent five years ago.

Government loans also have not kept pace with rising costs. Subsidized loans accounted for only 55 percent of student borrowing in the most recent academic year, down from 69 percent 10 years earlier.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/opinion/01wed2.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. And by making sure more students can't do well in school....

The Junta helps assure that more young people will have no choice but to feed the war machine. Hmmm... who owes an apology to whom?

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2. Snow actually mentioned Pell Grants today. See DU discussion at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2920014&mesg_id=2920014