College freshmen may borrow up to $375 more from federal student-loan programs under President Bush’s 2005 budget request released Monday. However, Pell Grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Perkins Loans and College Work-Study will remain at 2004 levels.
Current first-year students may borrow $2,625 from the government, while sophomores may borrow $3,500. President Bush’s budget allows first-year students to borrow $375 more, pushing the maximum amount to $3,000. The total limit all students are allowed to borrow from the federal government will remain at $23,000.
Although the Pell Grant will remain at $4,050 for the third consecutive year, high-school seniors are eligible for an additional $1,000 in Pell Grant aid for their freshman year in college through the State Scholars program. The program stipulates they are eligible for the additional funds if they complete certain college-preparatory classes during their senior year of high school. High-school seniors can earn scholarships after three years of science and mathematics, courses in foreign language and four years of social studies and English. President Bush’s spending plan doles out $12 million to boost states’ interest in State Scholars and to start their own branch of the program. The State Scholars program currently operates in 14 states.
Steve Van Ess, Director of the University of Wisconsin Student Financial Services, said the new budget is a very modest improvement, if any, over last year’s funding.
“Given costs have gone up at UW-Madison, and everywhere else,” he said. “The increase in freshman loans is beneficial, but [the other levels] have been there a long time and are inadequate.”
Van Ess is most concerned about the Perkins Loan program. President Bush’s plan will not furnish any new funding to the program, and Van Ess is concerned about the elimination of the program entirely. He said there are two parts to the project; a fund allocated to new students, and a revolving part that recycles funds previously given out to students.
“UW-Madison has $62 million in its revolving fund, and [the budget] hasn’t addressed what will become of that,” he said.
Pell Grant levels were not increased, but Van Ess said their importance is often targeted unnecessarily, and he would rather see a general increase in student aid.
Perkins Loans are particularly important, because “it’s what we give students in addition to Stafford Loans.”
Another hurdle UW faces is the issue of redistribution of federal funding. Van Ess said there are two parts to redistribution — base guarantees, and a school’s “fair share” based on demographics. Base-guarantee funds are allocated to more-established schools, and institutions that have been around for a longer period of time are guaranteed a certain fund level. UW is considered an established school that reaps base-guarantee funding. The “fair share” redistribution allocates funds based on demographics at a school, or “wherever the students are,” Van Ess said. But Van Ess said UW would not benefit from redistribution.
“Students change from year to year, and UW is trying to draw in low-income students,” Van Ess said. “But [UW] is not going to do that with less money to give them.”
The problem may not be limited to UW, Van Ess said.
“Redistribution [would have] all sectors of all schools fighting like dogs to come out on top,” he said. “Increases are more modest, and some schools that have been around for a while are guaranteed money,” Van Ess said.
According to Van Ess, both UW undergraduate and graduate students borrow $100 million a year in Stafford Loans. The federal agencies who lend Stafford Loans currently have the option to either collect or waive a 1 percent annual interest fee on students who borrow money. The Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation, who handles UW Stafford Loans, currently waives the 1 percent fee for students, but Bush’s plan will prohibit agencies from waiving the fee and forces students to collectively pay the $1 million in interest each year on Stafford Loans.
“It’s such a big program, any little change is something we watch very closely,” Van Ess said.
But they key to alleviating budget pressure might be within the universities themselves.
“Universities are part of the problem,” UW Professor of Higher Education Clifton said. “[Universities] are beginning to base aid more on merit than need, which privileges those students who have had more educational opportunities.”
Conrad said part of the duty of the federal government is providing financial access to students who otherwise cannot attend college.
“The big picture is that this budget helps give further ammunition for privatization for higher education,” he said. “In turn, the university’s commitment to the public good, including supporting disadvantaged students, is increasingly less important.”
Conrad said the budget would have severe effects on higher education, not only on UW. “What [the budget] is really saying is that education is a private good, and not a public one,” Conrad said. “The budget pursues private profit, and neglects to provide the support students need.”
