Bush Proposes a Raise in Maximum Pell Grants Award

Article, Chronicle for Higher Education, January 28, 2005

President Bush, while speaking at a community college in Florida, announced that he planned to raise the maximum Pell Grant award by $500, to $4,550. This increase would help eliminate a $4.3 billion shortfall that recently plagued the program. Bush emphasized that this increase would not come on the backs of taxpayers, but instead would be achieved through reducing costs and inefficiencies within the program. Bush claimed that he would ask Congress to make specific changes in the current federal program that relies on banks and other lending institutions to administer the loans.

Democrats responded to Bush's words by claiming that any increase in the Pell Grant program would most likely cause a reduction of student benefits in other programs. For example, Republicans have supposedly backed a cost-saving bill that would discourage students from consolidating their loans. This would save the government money, but would ultimately cost the student more in the long run.