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Texas-based program could supplement Pell Grants
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Monday, March 29, 2004
Although President Bush has not asked for increases in money awarded as Pell Grants – the need-based federal student aid – he has proposed $45 million in aid for students who take more college preparatory courses in high school.
Under the proposal, the Center for State Scholars would allocate grants up to $1,000 in extra Pell Grant money to students who take certain high school courses. This program would act as an incentive for students to take more rigorous courses in high school but would still factor in a student’s financial need.
“The basic idea is to reward and encourage these additional courses,” said Drew Scheberle, Interim Executive Director of the Center for State Scholars. “It’s not draining away funding from Pell Grants.”
Currently the State Scholars program only operates in 14 states and its main office is in Bush’s home state, Texas. Plans to expand the program depend on funding. The president also proposed $12 million to expand the center’s initiatives, and State Scholars currently has plans to expand to several states, including Wisconsin, that do not currently have the program.
Bush’s proposal is receiving mixed reactions. Pell Grants are completely need-based and are available throughout a college student’s entire career, but the grants proposed under the State Scholars program contain a merit component and are available for the first and second year of college only, called “front-loading.” The maximum Pell Grant has been frozen at $4,050 for the past two years.
Steve Van Ess, director of financial services at the University of Wisconsin, sees a problem with introducing a merit-based component to the purely need-based Pell Grant program. According to Van Ess, students who come from lower-income families have fewer opportunities to do well in high school than students from the middle and upper classes.
“With a merit-based grant, the people who need it most are least likely to get it,” Van Ess said. “Putting more money into the program is great, but we don’t need to add special criteria.”
But Scheberle points out that while the proposed grants would have merit-based criteria, they would still be need-based. The idea is for students to be aware of the criteria during high school, which could provide incentives to take more college-prep courses to get the extra grant. The grant is intended to take into account both performance and need.
“It’s not just after the fact; it helps to focus students,” Scheberle said.
The front-loading component to the grants is also meeting criticism. The proposed grants are available in the first two years of college, when students are most needy. Some people fear that students will not be able to afford college once the two-year limit is reached and grants stop providing funding, causing students to drop out.
“The recent school of thought is that the students most at risk are borderline on whether they go to college or not,” Van Ess said.
Front-loading acts to aid students in their statistically most needy time, and then hopes the students will be grounded enough by their third year to finance tuition without using the extra Pell Grant.
The proposal has yet to be passed, so the State Scholars program depends on the passed budget.
“We could start in Wisconsin as soon as fall 2004, but we don’t have funding,” Scheberle said. “Meanwhile, we’re working with other states to set up programs.”
