Drastic federal and state budget shortfalls have considerably amplified national and local appropriations deliberations, especially those concerning funds for higher education.
Currently, the White House is raising objections to a Senate budget bill for the 2003 fiscal year that would increase the maximum federal Pell Grant to $4,100 from $4,000.
Administration officials have not gone into much detail, but have said that they would like the maximum to remain steady until Congress provides enough money to erase a deficit in the program’s budget.
“Those of us in the financial aid community are happy that Congress is trying to raise the maximum,” Director of Financial Aid Robert Reddy said. “Any increase is good, but we wish it was being raised by several times that amount.”
Reddy estimated that about 10 to 12 percent of Oberlin students receive Pell Grants.
Because the Pell Grant functions like an entitlement program, grants are characteristically awarded to eligible students even if the program suffers deficits. The shortfall is estimated to be around $2 billion this year.
This January, the College Board, a New York-based nonprofit best known for its administration of the SAT, suggested that the federal government augment the grant’s funding enough to cover the average total of tuition, fees and room and board, which the panel estimated at about $9,700 for the 2002-2003 academic year.
For the first time in the Pell Grant’s history, many are concerned that award amounts in the future may be drastically reduced or even all together eliminated to offset federal deficits.
“You have to understand that Pell Grants are the foundation block upon which all financial aid packages are built,” Reddy said. “It’s the program we’d like to see the president and Congress commit to the most.”
Some educators see the grant as a critical measure of diversity on university and college campuses. A recent article in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education claimed that “the percentage of students at a given college or university who receive federal Pell Grants offers a good indication of the economic diversity of the student body at that particular institution.”
The Pell Grant is typically awarded to students with the greatest overall financial need. Throughout the nation’s institutions of higher education, Pell awards overwhelmingly correlate to race as well as economic background.
Oberlin’s commitment to its students’ financial need is one of the strongest in the country. “We say, regardless of state or federal grants, Oberlin commits to 100 percent of student need through a formula which accounts for the cost of tuition and attendance, family contributions, student self-help like work-study, and Oberlin grants,” Reddy said.
Because of this 100 percent commitment to need, fluctuations in federal and state funds are always matched by Oberlin’s proprietary funds.
Public universities, however, are facing deep cuts from cash-strapped states. Many state institutions of higher education as well as private colleges with small financial endowments have been prompted to make up for lost revenues by sharply increasing tuition, shifting the burden of troubled budgets to students and their parents.
Tuition increases at such institutions significantly reduce access to higher education for low- and moderate-income students, who attend public universities in higher percentages.
Among the largest, the tuition hikes at the Universities of Kansas, Pennsylvania State University and Texas A&M University ranged from 13.5 percent to over 25 percent. Tuition increases of greater than eight percent were implemented at public universities in most states.
In light of immense economic downturns and related decreases in the endowment, non-financial aid related budget cuts rocked Oberlin last year, resulting in debates between students, faculty, staff and administrators.
These debates about the Pell Grant run alongside an emergency in the Ohio State Legislature that could affect the funds available for college students who are residents of that state, particularly Ohio Choice and Ohio need-based programs.
Should such state funds, or even the federal Pell Grant itself disappear, Oberlin’s commitment to financial aid would pad the decrease.
“A Pell-eligible student at Oberlin is not going to be as hard hit as is a student at a state or even a private institution that doesn’t have that 100 percent commitment to financial need is,” Reddy said. “Otherwise, this is an issue that could possibly hurt a lot of people across the country.”