Increases in college financial aid urged

[Craig]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/educ..._college16.html

Increases in college financial aid urged

By Eun-Kyung Kim
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The government should raise the limits on federal Pell grants and other types of financial aid to help make college more affordable for low-income students, a College Board panel recommended yesterday.

"If we do not turn the national conversation back to investment in education access and away from tax reduction, 'No Child Left Behind' will become just an empty phrase, representing broken promises, broken aspirations and broken dreams," said the group's president, Gaston Caperton.

That year-old education law, championed by President Bush, requires annual testing and gives more control to families with children in poorly performing schools.

Pell grants should cover about $9,700 for the 2002-03 academic year — the average total of tuition, fees and room and board for a student at a four-year college, the panel said. The maximum grant for the 2001-02 school year was $3,750.

"We're a very rich country. We can afford to make college available," said Gary Orfield, co-director of Harvard University's Civil Rights Project and a researcher for the College Board's National Dialogue on Student Financial Aid.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., plans to introduce a bill this week that would ultimately increase Pell grant limits to $11,600 in the 2009-10 year.

"This administration talks a good game about education being the road to opportunity and success, but then they refuse to help build the critically important 'on ramps' which in many ways are — and have been — Pell grants," Dodd said in a statement.

States and colleges should ensure that growth in merit-based financial programs does not come at the expense of need-based funding, said the panel of policy-makers, higher-education representatives and business leaders.

The College Board, a New York-based organization best known as owner of the SAT, is a membership association composed of more than 4,200 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations.

[nudel]

i never had to deal with loans or grants so i don't know the difficulty in needing one. things i dont agree on though. my housemates received financial aid. they received the cash in their name and it was their responsibility to pay the tuition and expenses with it. these guys would go on a spending spree. they had already enough money to pay for rent and tuition from the parents and the extra aid was for personal spending. how do you qualify for such aid. and why do people who go to expensive private schools able to receive more aid money. the only reason why i didn't go to a private school was because i couldn't afford it. it seems like the only way you can go to a private school is if your super rich or dirt poor. if people were so financially strapped, why don't they check out their local public schools. even most out of state pubs are cheaper than private school. my last rant. yes, everyone should have the choice/opportunity to go to college, but why does it seem like these days its the only choice. current thought seems if you don't go to college your nothing. what ever happened to going into the trades. seems trade jobs are loosing more and more respect.

[VV o n g B a]

i think they should do away with pell grants and loans and whatnot along with all other scholarships for a couple of years. if the universities see the number of applications to their schools take a massive hit maybe they'd take more care in seeing that their costs don't rise so much faster than inflation.