President Bush proposed Friday increasing the maximum federal
grant for low-income college students by $100 a year for five years, a
change that he said would make higher education more accessible to
thousands of Americans. Speaking in a packed gymnasium at Florida
Community College here, Bush also promised to restructure the
government's student loan apparatus to save money that will then be
used to help close a long-standing shortfall in the Pell Grant program.
The White House offered no details on how those savings would be
achieved, although one likely target would be the government subsidies
paid to private lenders that handle student loans. The average grant is
about $2,400, with the maximum being $4,050 -- a figure that advocates
call inadequate because it covers only a fraction of the cost of
attending even public four-year colleges. Under Bush's proposal, the
maximum Pell Grant would grow to $4,550 over five years. "Pell
Grants are really important. Pell Grants make it possible for people to
go to school who otherwise won't go to school," Bush said. "I think
that is money really well spent," he added. Rep. George Miller
(Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and
the Workforce, called the proposed increase too small. "Even President
Bush knows that a $500 boost over five years is not enough -- he
himself promised, in 2000, that he would raise Pell by more than twice
that amount," Miller said. [more]
PELL GRANTS: Congress should undo cut in aid to college students [more]
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