Rehberg Pushes Sustainability for Pell Grants Funding at Hearing

Press Release

Congressman Denny Rehberg, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services and Education today questioned Under Secretary Martha Kanter from the Department of Education about the long-term viability of the Pell Grant program and the underlying causes of increased post-secondary education costs.

"By definition, each new tuition increase, also increases the number of students unable to afford college," said Rehberg, a member of the House Rural Education Caucus. "At some point, we've got to ask if the taxpayer can afford to subsidize tuition at any price that is asked, especially when doing so requires us to borrow money that will ultimately have to be paid back by the very students we claim to be helping. Education is about claiming the future, but deficit spending robs us of that very same future."

Rehberg supports Pell Grants, which make college possible for thousands of Montana students. However, he noted that a perfect storm of increasing tuition prices and expanded eligibility has put the long-term viability of the Pell Grant program in jeopardy. Without reform, Pell Grants run the risk of collapsing under their own weight.

As the result of a wide array of interrelated factors -- increased enrollment, expanded eligibility for recipients and broader availability of grants - Pell Grant expenses have tripled in the last five years, from $12.8 billion in award year 2006-07 to $36.7 billion this year. The Office of Management and Budget estimates that, unless Congress acts, the cost next year will be $43.9 billion.

Meanwhile, the cost of a college education continues to rise at unsustainable rates well over the cost of inflation and even more than the cost of health care. This makes even the unsustainable increases currently projected unlikely to be enough.

"Pell Grants open a lot of doors, but they rely on a solvent government," warned Rehberg. "Getting our deficit under control and making sure Pell Grants can be sustainably funded is the only way we can guarantee that they will still be around for the next generation."

Source