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^ ,
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