Sophomore Bre Klumph dreamed of going to the University for college but would have likely gone to community college had it not been for an important factor: her federal financial aid. Klumph receives a Pell Grant and work study, both of which could see their stimulus package money cut if the Senate’s version of the bill passes Tuesday.
The package passed through the House of Representatives in January. Republicans have criticized the bill for spending too much money and senators have reduced allocated spending for the federal work study program and higher education construction in an effort to trim down the package. The Senate bill also reduced the House’s proposal for Pell Grant funding by about $1 billion, though both bill versions allocate more to Pell Grants than there previously was.
Elizabeth Bickford, head of financial aid at the University, thinks spending is necessary during the current economic climate.
Regardless of which package passes, Bickford said the decision to add to Pell Grant funding, which is in both versions of the package, would directly affect University students.
More students will need financial aid during a recession, she said, and even returning students who don’t have a Pell Grant now could receive one for next year.
“Our students will benefit from any increase in financial aid,” she said.
Klumph said she certainly benefits. “If I didn’t have that, I’d have to come up with the money some other way,” she said, and noted that having another job or more loans would be close to impossible for her.
Aaron Polk, president of the College Republicans at the University, said, “I completely disagree with (the stimulus package). We’ve seen in history that we’ve never spent our way out of a recession.”
The Pell Grant budget will increase under either version of the package, but the rate of change is different.
In the new Senate version, the maximum amount available under the grant is increased by $280 during 2009-10, but will increase by $400 during 2010-11. In addition, the Senate version of the package will increase the number of recipients by 175,000 during 2009-10 and 250,000 during 2010-11.
That contrasts with the more generous House package, which would increase the maximum amount by $500 and the number of recipients by 800,000over the next year instead of the next two.
Bickford sees positives to both proposals. The House proposal, she said, sends “more money to more students faster.”
The Senate package, on the other hand, “could be more sustainable,” she said, because it spreads the funding out over a longer period of time.
Bickford is concerned about the cuts to the work study program. The package that passed in the House allocated $490 million for work study, an amount Bickford was excited about.
The University has not received an increase for work study funding in 10 years, Bickford said. And while the amount has remained the same, minimum wages for work study students have increased. This means fewer students can participate in work study at the University because the money doesn’t reach as far.
The Senate version of the stimulus package includes no funding for work study.
Klumph said the more students who can participate in the program, the better. “I pay bills and stuff with the money I get from work,” she said.
President Barack Obama is encouraging Democrats and Republicans to put aside their differences and pass the bill.
“We can’t afford to wait. We can’t wait to see and hope for the best,” Obama said in Elkhart, Ind., on Monday. “We can’t posture and bicker and resort to the same failed ideas that got us in into this mess in the first place.”
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Stimulus to affect student aid
Daily Emerald
February 9, 2009
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