Do you have federal financial aid? Then read This.
 

Heard this last night on MTV. Looking for more info.

From mtv.com-
Tens of thousands of college students who depend on government grants to help pay their way through school will be forced to find new ways to come up with tuition, thanks to severe cutbacks in the nation's largest grant program. The Pell Grant is being downsized by $270 million, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.

While the Department of Education has downplayed the impact — telling The Washington Post that it would only affect a handful of students — the exact number who would be barred from receiving aid is closer to 84,000, while a million other students who do get grants will likely find that the amount awarded will be smaller once the changes take affect in the 2004-2005 academic year.

The cutbacks come courtesy of a revision of the federal formula that governs financial aid, which the House passed earlier this month to amend the Higher Education Act. The revision penalizes students applying for need-based aid if their families deduct any of their educational cost on state taxes, because it makes it appear as if they have larger incomes. The state's tax tables have been unchanged for nearly a decade.

"One of the key questions is how the need analysis system should take ... tax-based resources into account in determining what families can be expected to contribute toward college expenses," the report reads. "Another issue that may be debated is how well the premises and process of federal need analysis serve non-traditional students. For example, some of these students may be seeking assistance for sporadic course-taking to bolster their economic opportunities ... making them ineligible for any Title IV student aid, or they may enroll on less than a half-time basis, making them ineligible for Title IV loans."

The report also notes that government spending on education is expected to rise, so that while some students will no longer qualify, more people will receive Pell Grants in 2004 than they did this year.

—Jennifer Vineyard

DARN IT! Thanks for the info!

I KNOW!!!!!!!!
 

I saw this last night on the MTV News Bulletin. That SEVERELY SUCKS b/c there are so many broke undergrad college student out there like myself, who do not have parents that can contribute to their education, and they are going to limit the funds, and have some people not get the Pell Grant at all!!!:mad: I'm glad I'll be done w/ undergrad this school year!

This is gonna suck even more as I apply to grad school and see how much money I'll be paying... :(

This is just Great
 

I can relate Sugar, I can barely survive with the little money I'm getting on financial aid now. Thank goodness I will be graduating in May 2004 (and I can't wait :D ), but I don' t know how I will be able to afford graduate school if I don't get some help:rolleyes: . I will definitely be praying this one through.

This is really, really disturbing. Sugar and Neosouldchild, I feel ya pain. Happy that I'm done after this year but :confused: about what I'm going to do if I decide to go to graduate school. This is a good lesson on why we need to vote so things like this will be less likely to happen.

I've worked in financial aid for the past 3 years and I've been a broke graduate student for the past 4 years.

Being on both sides of the fence, I comfortably say:

There's no reason to panic. Your financial aid counselor can work with you to help you find ways to finance your education.

But, if you insist on panicking, write your congressman/woman.

PELL GRANT
 

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...dents_slashed/

US aid for college students slashed
Change in rules to affect almost 1.3m

By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff | November 23, 2004

Nearly a quarter of low- and moderate-income college students who currently qualify for federal Pell grants will see their awards reduced or eliminated under a change in federal rules that Congress allowed in its new spending bill passed over the weekend, according to an estimate from higher education analysts.

About 85,000 of the 5.2 million students currently eligible to receive Pell grants will become ineligible. And 1.2 million others will get a smaller award under a new formula the government will use to determine how much families can afford to pay for college, according to estimates from the American Council on Education, or ACE. The change will take effect for students starting or returning to classes next summer or fall.

Higher education officials worry that the change, estimated to save the government about $300 million in next year's budget, will hurt students already struggling to pay for college.

''Nobody knows if the change will actually lead anybody to abandon their plans for postsecondary education," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president at ACE. ''The best-case scenario is that families will have to dig deeper to pay for college, perhaps by working more hours or taking out more loans."

The effects could be much more widespread than the council's estimates suggest. The same federal formulas are used to calculate federally subsidized loans, state aid, and grants that colleges make to their students, said Brian K. Fitzgerald, staff director of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance.

The change was proposed last year by the US Department of Education. It was blocked at the time by congressional legislation, but this year Republican leaders allowed the change to go through.

The new Department of Education aid formula was intended to reflect a reduction in income taxes in many states, but some analysts say the tax burden is measured in a flawed way that does not reflect actual increases in taxes in the past several years. The formula is supposed to be updated every year, but it had not been adjusted in many years.

Some Republicans say the formula needed to be updated to help deal with the Pell program's $4 billion deficit and to ultimately increase the maximum award.

Pell grants, the main federal program to help low- and moderate-income families pay for college, will cost $12.5 billion next year, according to ACE estimates. Although the $4,050 maximum grant has been virtually frozen for four years, about 1.2 million more students have become eligible for the Pell grants in that time, leading to the budget squeeze.

It is not clear yet which students will lose their Pell grants, but Fitzgerald said it most likely will be those with family incomes at the higher levels of Pell eligibility, perhaps $35,000 to $40,000, Fitzgerald said. These students already receive far less than the maximum grant. Many other students with lower family incomes will see their grants reduced by up to a few hundred dollars, Fitzgerald estimated.

Families will learn whether they are losing grant money when they receive information about their aid packages for next year.

Meanwhile, the Pell grant is covering less of the cost of a college education each year. The average Pell grant covered a third of the cost of the average four-year public college in the 1980-81 school year. Last year, the average Pell grant covered a quarter of the cost, according to the College Board.

Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@globe.com.

Damn. Just when I'm trying to apply for money to go back to school. :rolleyes: There should be a special program for first-time recipients. :rolleyes:

I pay enough in taxes to get SOME DAYUM MONEY! :mad:

Tarah Arne, a senior majoring in elementary education, is referring to her Pell Grant and other student loans that she was declared ineligible for after having to list a sub-par barracks in Iraq as housing.


:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Federal Pell Grant Changes



This just hurts me to my heart. :( :eek: :( :mad: