Federal Budget and Tax Policy

Statement of James Kvaal on Senate's Proposed $1.3B Cut to Pell Grant Reserve.

The Administration’s plans to take nearly $4 billion from Pell Grants to fund programs entirely unrelated to education is nothing short of alarming. You'd have to be in outer space to slash billions from Pell Grants at the same time that everyone here on Earth is appropriately focused on addressing ballooning college costs and persistent student debt.

Today’s budget proposal would raise would costs and increase student debt. The Administration would make students pay $207 billion more on their student loans, a dangerously wrong-headed proposal. Overall, to cut the Department of Education’s annual funding by 12 percent, the Administration would cut Pell grant funding, eliminate SEOG scholarships, and halve work-study funding....

This afternoon the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal year 2019 education spending bill that increases the Pell award by a modest but meaningful $100, and cuts $600 million from the Pell Grant reserve fund. A broad coalition of Pell advocates has for years urged Congress to protect and strengthen the grant, including in a letter earlier this week from over 65 organizations,...

The House Budget Committee’s fiscal year 2019 Budget Resolution, expected to pass out of committee this evening, calls for astonishing cuts to student financial aid as part of a package that exceeds $200 billion over the next decade. The simultaneous cuts to student loans and Pell Grants would be a devastating one-two punch to students already struggling to afford college.

We are grateful that Congress has heeded the recent call from over 60 diverse, national organizations to prioritize Pell Grants in the FY18 Omnibus. The bill released tonight eliminates a previously proposed cut to Pell Grant program reserve funds, and in doing so will help keep the program on solid fiscal footing in the coming years. The bill also raises the maximum Pell Grant...