Bush's New Pell Grant Proposal Denies Aid to More

Bush's New Pell Grant Proposal Denies Aid to More
Than 5 Million Low and Middle-Income Students

Wednesday, April 7, 2004

WASHINGTON-President Bush proposed changes to the federal Pell Grant program while visiting Arkansas yesterday. Representative George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House education committee, issued the following statement in response to the proposal:

"Yesterday, President Bush proposed awarding additional $5,000 grants to a select group of Pell Grant recipients to study math or science in college. Bush's plan would benefit only 20,000 students, or less than 1 percent of all students who receive Pell Grants. But for the millions of other college freshmen struggling with the high cost of a higher education, President Bush has yet to make good on his promise to increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,100. In fact, in each of the last three years, Bush has frozen or cut the maximum Pell award. As a result, the purchasing power of the Pell is now the weakest it has been in 30 years.

"The President is trying to get to his promised $5,100 award on the cheap, hoping that the millions of college students to whom he has broken his promise won't notice. President Bush needs to make college more affordable for all students and their families, not just a select few.

"Even worse, the President proposes to pay for the new awards by cutting Pell grants to other low- and middle-income students by imposing a new cap on the number of years that non-traditional students - many of whom work full-time and are raising families - can take to earn an Associates' degree. Under current law, students must already meet academic progress goals defined by each institution (referred to as "satisfactory progress") in order to receive a Pell grant, a requirement that keeps students from receiving more aid than reasonably necessary to complete a degree.

"President Bush's proposal denies more than 5 million low and middle-income students, or 99 percent of all Pell Grant recipients, the opportunity to earn an affordable college degree. His proposal punishes students working towards a degree, while raising a family and holding down a job."

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