Help DUers re Pell Grants

[malaise]

How do these work? I noticed Bush mentioned this last night:
We must also do more to help children when their schools do not measure up. Thanks to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarships you approved, more than 2,600 of the poorest children in our Nation's Capital have found new hope at a faith-based or other non-public school. Sadly, these schools are disappearing at an alarming rate in many of America's inner cities. So I will convene a White House summit aimed at strengthening these lifelines of learning. And to open the doors of these schools to more children, I ask you to support a new $300 million program called Pell Grants for Kids. We have seen how Pell Grants help low-income college students realize their full potential. Together, we've expanded the size and reach of these grants. Now let us apply that same spirit to help liberate poor children trapped in failing public schools.

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Is this his way to find earmarks for the Rethug Faith based schools rather than improve public education?

[fenriswolf]

1. their loans

that you don't have to pay while in college, and they have a low apr. thing is with tuition costs its still the second largest purchase you will ever make in your life, I'm dreading starting to pay mine off.

*edit: I lied, i'm a dumbass look below for explaination.

[malaise]

4. Good luck n/t

[Chovexani]

5. Traditional Pell Grants are NOT loans

They are grants, which means they're free money that doesn't need to get paid back.

I'm a Student Finance Planner at a technical school, so I'm very familiar with financial aid.

I'm wondering what kind of bullshit doublespeak the Chimp is trying to pull this time.

[fenriswolf]

7. oh right sorry

i was thinking about something else. yeah pell grants are alright, but they don't cover tuition, mine covered about maybe a quarter.

[Chovexani]

8. You were probably thinking of Stafford Loans

Don't know if you caught my edit on the other post, but I work in financial aid so I know how confusing it can be. Pell Grants usually only cover a small portion of the tuition and they're need based. Stafford Loans are at 6.8%F right now but they're set to go down in a few years.

[fenriswolf]

11. thats exactly right

I got that and some sort of other loan from bank of america for funds to start off. Anyways all I have to say is that the educational finance system is horrible, the students bear the brunt of rising tuitions while the board of education gets another pay increase. People paying off student loans for decades while in other countries higher education is a basic right. Then I hear stories about financial aid personal at colleges getting kickbacks from banks. The whole system needs revamping.

[Chovexani]

15. The whole system is a hot mess, I could tell some stories

The student loan industry is probably one of the most scandalous in America. I worked for a very shady consolidation outfit and ended up dropping an anonymous dime on them to the DoE when they were under investigation. Predatory lending among other things.

Private loans are terrible, there is little to no regulation with them, and I only suggest them to my independent students (who are unable to qualify for Parent PLUS through the gov't), or dependent students who absolutely can't get Parent PLUS. The interest rates are through the roof, and they can charge basically what they feel like it. There's not nearly enough oversight because the industry has bought off Congress. 60 Minutes did a great expose on Sallie Mae a couple of years ago that should be an eye opener for anyone trying to school or put a child through school.

Reform is needed very, very badly.

[murielm99]

9. It has to be bullshit.

* cut Pell Grants.

[Chovexani]

14. It's so fucked up

I work for one of the top auto tech schools in the country, and I work with a lot of low-income and blue collar students. Some are downright impoverished, and our school represents their ticket out of poverty. Title IV aid never covers the full amount, but every little bit helps and for many, Pell Grants make the difference between being able to go or not. I've had students drop out at the last minute because they were afraid they wouldn't be able to feed their families, and though they recognize an education in a skilled trade can help lift them out of their circumstances, it feels out of reach.

It's criminal the way poor people are treated in this country. Simply criminal.

[murielm99]

21. One of my daughter's friends makes me just want to cry.

And I know she is just one of many. You must see more than I ever will.

Her dad had an aneurysm when she was nine. He survived it, but is disabled. In order for him to get the full amount of help he needed, her parents had to divorce. Her mom is a high school graduate with few skills. She works for a company that helped her along, and now she has a supervisory position. That does not mean she gets paid a great deal, but things are better than they were. Her little brother is special ed.

This girl was in a program to become a veterinary assistant. All the people had to stay in the same group and graduate together to qualify. She flunked a math class. I swear it was because she was working to help her family. Now she had to drop out of the program. She has all these damn loans to pay back.

Recently, a counselor got her into a program for medical assistants. Maybe she can get some decent job training there. She is far from stupid, but she is not cut out for college, and the cost of a four year school might as well be a billion dollars for this kid.

But I saw her Pell Grants get cut. That is the only reason I know anything about it. All she needs is a chance. Actually, her whole family could use a break.

[Hand]

16. School vouchers under another name.

Resident Bush’s call for a $300 million program called Pell Grants for Kids is the latest effort by his administration to channel tax dollars to low-income parents to help them send their children to private or religious schools.

His proposal, in his State of the Union address Monday night, was denounced by some top Democratic lawmakers and teachers’ union officials as a national “voucher” program that would only drain resources from urban public schools that in many cases are in need of money.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/washington/29educ.html

[blondeatlast]

20. Precisely--he pimped the name of a very effective program

so that Little George Walker Bush Smith can go to Camelback Christian School on our dime.

[MNDemNY]

2. He's just trying to "rebrand" vouchers.

[malaise]

3. That's what I thought

For his Fundie base I assume.

[MNDemNY]

6. Of course.

[malaise]

10. Thanks n/t

[MNDemNY]

12. You can call a pile-o-poop a flower, but it doesn't make it so.

:toast: :smoke: :hi:

[malaise]

13. LOL

How does he get away with this crap? :hi:

[Berry Cool]

17. Yep. Just a way to drain financial support from the public schools until they run dry

and there's nothing left but "faith-based" private schools that kids can get any kind of education from.

The public schools will have no resources, and any students they happen to have left will get an education worse than useless.

In the meantime, the private schools will have teachers supplied by Blackwater and cafeterias run by KBR.

[malaise]

18. So why is Congress allowing him to use tax payers money

in this way.

[lonestarnot]

19. That was one of the pecker's first moves, cut funds for Pell.