News > December 3, 2003

By Alex Reyes

Assistant News Editor

A decision by the Department of Education earlier this year to cut the federal Pell Grant program by $270 million was halted by Congress last week. 

Congressional representatives across party lines agreed in a House-Senate conference committee that the cuts were unreasonable and excessive, and they decided to suspend the decision while they appoint an independent study to search for other areas to make less dramatic cuts, according to a Nov. 21 article in the New York Times.

The Department of Education said the changes were a necessity, and despite the need to cut back funding of this particular grant program, government spending on education will probably continue to rise because of the proliferation in college-aid students and the increasing accessibility and popularity of higher education among low-income families.

Members of Congress said the cuts were a roundabout way of cutting education with a purposeful avoidance of facing the people who would be affected.

The cuts, which would have been implemented in 2004, would have prevented 84,000 college students from receiving any award from this grant and would have directly affected the university’s financial aid package available to students. 

Milton King, associate director of the office of financial aid, said he is happy about the decision but has not seen the fine print and does not know what the final decision will ultimately entail.

“We haven’t gotten all the details on how things have shaken out in Congress, but we hope the Pell Grant will not be cut, as it forms a critical part of the financial aid package we make available to students,” King said.

“We would certainly miss (the Pell Grant) if it disappeared. It would make the overall package we have available to students look less attractive,” King said. “We would probably have to spread the loss through the packages of all students receiving need-based aid.”

The Pell Grant has been under much scrutiny and reevaluation since the expiration of the Higher Education Act.

Therefore, the Department of Education was required under federal law to revise the formula determining eligibility.

Thirty-two percent of students at the university receive some sort of federal aid. Other sources within the federal grant programs include the Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant, the Perkins Loan, the Stafford Loan and work study programs. In 2001-2002, the university gave almost $13 million in federal aid to students.

Although there is currently no cap as to who can receive a Pell Grant, recipients primarily come from low-income households.

In 1999 45 percent of dependent Pell Grant recipients had a total parental income of below $20,000. Ninety percent of eligible dependent students had a household income of less than $40,000.

“There is a large formula that determines whether someone is eligible for the Pell Grant,” King said.

“It includes family size, income and other children in college. More students attending Wake have been eligible for Pell Grants, so the amount of money that we receive from the federal government has increased,” he said.

This statement holds true for the rest of the nation as well. Due to the increase in eligible students, the estimated deficit for the Pell Grant program is over $2.5 billion. The Department of Education said that this deficit is due to the “unexpected growth” of valid applicants, especially the increase of independent students.