Changes in federal funding for higher education are one of the prominent aspects of President Bush's Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009. The budget, released Monday, proposes general government outlays of nearly $3.1 trillion, according to the budget report, and includes provisions to help "make college more affordable to the neediest students" in higher education.
One of the major features of the proposed budget is an increase in the allocation of funds for Pell Grants, which provide federal funding for students in higher education. Pell Grant recipients are selected based on data provided on Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms and can currently receive up to $4,800 a year, Department of Education spokeswoman Casey Ruberg said.
The proposed budget would allocate an additional $2.7 billion in annual appropriations for Pell Grants and would seek to raise the maximum funding a student can receive to $5,400 by 2012.
"The Pell Grant is the big thing that is coming out of this budget," Ruberg said.
Although the budget contains an increase in funding for Pell Grants and studies in the physical sciences, it also proposes cuts for other sources of grants and work-study programs. According to University Provost Arthur Garson, Jr., two such sources scheduled for reduced federal funding are the Perkins Grant, which offers financial aid to students in vocational and technical schools, and the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, which provides financial aid for students with exceptional need.
The proposed budget also would decrease grant money available for some specific research programs. According to Garson, previous budgets' provisions for increases in funding for research grants generated higher participation in students who were applying for them.
"The country was geared for a higher level [of funding] and has now been let down," he said.
The budget does, however, propose a 14-percent increase in funding for the National Science Foundation.
Garson also noted proposed increases in funding for some programs may positively impact the University, Garson said.
"As research gets funded, [graduate] students are hired, more faculty members are added, research programs grow, the University improves," Garson said.
The exact effects of the 2009 budget on higher education remain to be determined, though, as Bush's budget must be approved by Congress.
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