Congress Considers Pell Grant Increase
First increase in years is possible because of House support.
By Charles Dervarics
For years, education advocates looked to a more moderate U.S. Senate to push for funding increases. But by beating them to the punch by proposing a $100 increase in the maximum Pell Grant next year, the usually conservative House of Representatives is making a rare statement about the need for increased higher education funding.
“It’s cause for at least a small celebration,” says Jennifer Pae, vice president of the U.S. Student Association. While the student group and other advocates openly called for a $450 increase in the maximum grant for needy students, budget constraints made that scenario virtually impossible. Advocates also had sought more money for Pell in each of the last four years, when the U.S. Congress and President Bush opted for no increase at all.
When the White House earlier this year sought to freeze the maximum grant at $4,050 again for 2007, prospects for an increase looked dim. But the recent action by the House education appropriations committee has breathed new life into the possibility of an increase. “It’s a step in the right direction,” Pae says.
In the economic slowdown that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, more needy students enrolled in college and the Pell program faced a huge funding shortfall because more students qualified for grants. Congress has since erased the $4 billion shortfall.
“With the Pell Grant shortfall eliminated … we have an opportunity to responsibly increase the maximum award,” says Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Education and the Workforce’s subcommittee on 21st century competitiveness. “A college education is really a passport out of poverty, and raising the maximum Pell Grant award is an important step in making that dream a reality for millions of families.”
