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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2000)
Increased Pell Grants survive first test ■ Students hoping to see an increase in individual grants saw proposals survive the budget’s preliminary test By Serena Markstrom Oregon Daily Emerald Student organizers are pushing for a $400 increase in the maxi mum federal Pell Grant, and they got a glimpse at what legislators have in mind for the program when the House and Senate’s budget proposals for education hit the floor in subcommittee. Proposed House and Senate budgets totaling almost $100 bil lion each, which could include increases in federal Pell Grants of up to $350 per Oregon college student, Wednesday passed through the subcommittees on Labor, Health, Human Services and Education. OSPIRG joined the ASUO and other Public Interest Research Group organizations across the country to put pressure on legis lators for an increase in the Pell Grant. Merriah Fairchild, the state board chair for OSPIRG, said since 1980 the value of the Pell Grant has gone down because it has not grown with the rising cost of tuition. “The idea is to make the Pell Grant more relevant to the cost of tuition,” Fairchild said. The campaign has included phone-in days to legislators, hun dreds of letters to representatives and student senate resolutions across the nation. The ASUO Student Senate passed a resolution May 3 to en courage representatives to vote i for allocating additional surplus funds to higher education, partic ularly the Pell Grant. The $95.9 billion House budg et proposal includes a $200 in crease in the maximum Pell Grant per student, of which a proposed $4.5 million in grant money would go to Oregon students. The Senate Appropriations committee is expected on May 24 to take up its $100 billion version of the budget, which suggests a { { The idea is to make the Pell Grant more rele vant to the cost of tuition. Merriah Fairchild state board chair, OSPIRG $350 increase in the maximum Pell Grant. The Senate bill ap proaches the $400 increase that public interest research groups nationally have been pushing for in the last 18 months. Robin Miller, ASUO federal af fairs coordinator, said the ASUO has been working with the Unit ed States Student Association to get the Oregon Congressional Del egation to support legislation that would increase funding for feder al financial aid, such as the Pell and the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership grants. The LEAP grant is part of a state based grant system, and the House bill proposes to eliminate this pro gram. The Senate budget requests $70 million for it, a $30 million in crease over 2000 funding. Ivan Frishberg, director of the USPIRG higher education project, said he is optimistic that bills that include higher education increas es will eventually pass. The Sen ate went into full session May 11. PIRGs across the country adopted the Pell Grant as a cam paign because higher education is becoming less affordable to many students. Fairchild said students are dropping out of school be cause they cannot afford it and “that seems like a huge tragedy.” Miller echoed Fairchild’s con cerns. “The ASUO believes that edu cation is a right,” Miller said. “All students deserve access to higher education.” Frishberg said students across the country are “going deeper and deeper into debt,” though the ef fects are not as deep for Oregon residents because of the 1998 tu ition freeze. That freeze, however, is only guaranteed through 2000. It is a good sign that budgets in cluding Pell Grant increases passed without recommended amendments, Frishberg said, call ing the move a good start. The budgets need more work, howev er, before they are at a satisfactory level for students lobbying for better higher education budgets, he added. Fairchild said public-pressure helps shape results, and the coali tion of student leaders across the country has affected the senators and representatives who are sup porting higher education budgets. “1 think any increase is some what of a victory for students,” Fairchild said. Students who want more infor mation on how to get involved can go to either the OSP1RG or ASUO office, EMU Suites 1 and 4, respectively. May 10 subcommittee budgets House $95.9 billion budget Pell Grant proposed $200 increase in maxi mum grant per student LEAP proposed eliminating state grant program entirely Senate $100 billion budget Pell Grant proposed $350 increase in maxi mum per student LEAP proposed $30 million increase over 2000 budget ftcholas NicJt/e^ , Robinson Theatre * Part I: May 18, 25, June 1@ 7 May 20, 21,27, June 3@ 1 Part II: May 19, 20, 26, 27 & June 2, 3 @7 May 28 @1 .1& LIT Box Office: 346-4191 EMU Tickets: 346-4363 Hult Center- 682-5000 1 t uo students when they party * Office of Student Life Data taken from 1998 UO Health Center Survey. University of Oregon
