The Daily Campus

Issue date: 2/15/05 Section: News

Media Credit: JulieFriedlander President Bush´s proposed budget would increase Pell Grants by $100 in each of the next five years.

President George W. Bush released his 2006 budget to Capitol Hill, government agencies and the press last week. His proposed budget will cut education funding by $530 million, while it increases maximum Pell Grants by $100 in each of the next five years. Out of the 150 programs cut, 48 are education department programs that total $4.2 billion in costs.


"While increasing the maximum Pell Grant is an important part of college affordability, the current proposal is misleading." said United States Student Association (USSA) President Ajita Talwalker in a press release. "A modest increase to the Pell Grant while simultaneously attacking the other parts of a student's aid package that are necessary for a student to go to school is not an educational success."


The Undergraduate Student Government (USG), along with the USSA, is supporting a resolution in support of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), which was signed into law to strengthen the ability of all U.S. citizens to attend schools of higher education. According to information provided by USG, in 2004 the 108th Congress said it would be able to approve a reauthorization in time for the 2005 budget; a temporary extension was given to the act through September 2005. It is presumed to be reviewed for permanent stay during the 109th session of Congress this year. The act's main goals are to expand access to higher education, ensure the correct use of federal funds and the quality of education provided, promote educational opportunities, respond to rising costs in tuition, reduce complications in aid and institutional aid programs and promote student academic preparation for post-secondary education.


John Jevitts, an 8th-semester Latin American and Caribbean studies and political science major, said USG is "working with the UConn Public Interest Research Group and meeting with Connecticut legislators, U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Rob Simmons, Christopher Shay and Sen. Chris Dodd, and working on campus by hosting a forum of panel members who are yet to be announced, distributing literature to students concerning the issue and compile a catalog of student testimonials who have chosen to tell their story as proof of the necessity of this act."

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