The Barack Obama administration is proposing a $140 increase in the top Pell Grant plus more work/study funds and level support for minority-serving colleges and universities in a fiscal 2014 budget blueprint released Wednesday.
Overall, the U.S. Department of Education would realize a 4.6 percent increase, to $71 billion, for the next fiscal year. Also included in the budget is a plan to take Congress out of the business of setting student loan interest rates, instead moving to a market-based system.
One overarching goal in the budget is to address a “stubborn opportunity gap” facing many children and youth, said Education Secretary Arne Duncan. To help address such challenges, the budget includes more funds for low-income students and a $1.3 billion down payment on a new federal/state preschool partnership to expand quality early learning programs.
A new $1 billion Race to the Top competition would focus solely on higher education, as up to college affordability, access, completion and quality.
“Strategic investments in our educational system will not only provide more opportunities for millions of Americans, but they will strengthen our nation’s workforce as well,” Duncan said in presenting the budget plan.
For student financial aid, the budget is a mix of small increases and level funding. The maximum Pell Grant would increase from $5,645 to $5,785 next year. Given high demand in recent years, many analysts have concerns about a funding shortfall in the program. However, the White House says its budget would provide enough funds to ensure full funding of the program through 2016.
“We appreciate that the president has made higher education a priority with a Pell Grant increase,” said Ethan Senack, higher education advocate at US PIRG.
