"Republicans Push Pell Changes"

According to this article, House Republicans proposed to maintain the dollar amount of the maximum Pell Grant at $5,550 but make several other cuts in the program, including the following:

• Students attending at a less than half-time status will no longer be eligible for grants
• Students can receive the grant for only 12 semesters (down from 18 semesters)
• Students eligible for less than 10 percent of the maximum grant would receive nothing
• Programs for colleges serving significant numbers of black students, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Americans (as well as tribal colleges) would be eliminated
• The budget for Hispanic serving institutions would be cut by 83%
• The budget for HBCU's would be cut by 36%

My thoughts?

Well, let me start by saying that I'm completely biased because if balancing the budget were my job, I'd do my best not to meddle with education (other than to improve it)...HOWEVER, if I were required to make cuts to Pell Grants, I would not make the above changes. Who do these proposed changes hurt the most? The students that need the aid the most, of course.

Historically underserved minorities are the students that tend to live at the lowest levels of socioeconomic spectrum. These students are also more likely to need to work while in school (and may perhaps register for fewer credits), and may take longer to graduate whether it is because they began their academic journey at a community college or because they need to work while in school. I think for many of these students, completing a degree in 6 years may be unrealistic. I can definitely see students within the UH system suffering if these changes were made.

As we have recently read in class, while the focus of early efforts to increase higher education access was for those who had the greatest need, the fact that many of these programs have expanded to include the middle-class may be (particularly in this case) hurting the students that need the aid the most.

I am not sure exactly what the income cut-off is for receiving a Pell Grant, however, perhaps this cut-off could be lowered somewhat so students in the upper middle-class would only be eligible for grants while only the lower class and lower middle-class would still be eligible for Pell Grants. --Just a thought.