A 2015 budget plan narrowly approved by the House of Representatives late last week would impose major cuts on higher education, including a 10-year freeze on Pell grants and reduced funds for student loans.
The plan from Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., House Budget Committee chairman, would cut federal spending by $5 trillion and hit virtually all areas of domestic spending, including the health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act. But education advocates criticized the higher education provisions, one of which would freeze the maximum Pell grant for the next 10 years.
Coming a year after automatic cuts known as sequestration trimmed federal spending, the new plan would make even deeper reductions.
“The Republican budget of 2014 is sequester on steroids,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Tex, a Congressional Hispanic Caucus member and chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
Members approved the plan by a 219-205 vote that fell largely along party lines in the Republican-controlled chamber. Democrats and 12 GOP lawmakers opposed the measure.
The freeze in the maximum Pell — now at $5,730 — could result in cuts of $125 billion during the next 10 years, said Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Pell “already covers less than a third of college costs” even as college tuitions continue to increase, he said.
Another provision of the plan would reduce federal support for student loans by $48 billion.
