A Senate subcommittee approved a bill last week which aims to maintain the maximum Pell Grant award for the 2012 fiscal year.
The bill provides $158 billion for programs which train workers, provide youth with skills for future success, locate fraud and abuse of governmental programs, and incentivize reforms to health, workforce and education systems, according to a Senate Committee on Appropriations press release.
The Pell Grant is the cornerstone of the federal undergraduate financial aid program, and it offers students whose expected family contribution falls beneath a certain level a maximum award of $5,550 for 18 semesters, said Haley Chitty, director of communications at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. About 9.4 million low- and middle-income students receive aid from the Pell Grant program.
Roughly 9 percent of University undergraduates receive the Pell Grant, and "it is critical in helping us meet need for a student," said Scott Miller, senior associate director of financial aid. Miller elaborated on the Pell Grant's importance because of the University's commitment to meet 100 percent of need through AccessUVa.
The first source Student Financial Services looks at when awarding aid is a student's eligibility for the Pell Grant and other federal aid. A decline in the amount of aid available to students through the Pell Grant would mean that Student Financial Services would have fewer sources to meet student need.
"Hopefully [the bill is] one sign that [politicians] see the importance of the Pell Grant, but it is disheartening that they are having to cut other things to funnel money," Miller said.
The subcommittee is currently concentrating its funding in programs which increase college access, especially for low-income families. To maintain the current level of funding for programs, such as the Pell Grant, which promote the Senate's commitment to education and job skills training, the bill cuts 15 programs totaling more than $260 million and reduces funding for dozens.
"Some of the funding that they're cutting hasn't been proven to increase access to low-income [families]," Chitty said, citing a financial aid study by Harvard Education Prof. Bridget Terry Long.
Chitty referenced Long's finding that "need-based aid is more effective in increasing access for low-income students than other forms of aid"
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