I haven't yet heard any rhetoric from the GOP about freeloading students who live large off the government teat and who need to make sacrifices for the good of America. At least, not yet. But let me head off these criticisms before they start: I am extremely grateful for my federal financial aid. I think federal financial aid proves that government assistance works. More than that, I've had many spirited/heated debates with fellow students about government assistance, the Tea Party, etc. And even the teabaggers among my peers can't truly decry the assistance they receive. It's one of those eureka moments where the lightbulb turns on above their heads and you have to watch them furiously, agonizingly contort their intellect and self-perception around the fact that they receive government help too, and are no different than anyone else who does!
I'd be grateful enough for the Pell Grant if all it did was provide these moments. But that's not all it does. It also makes it possible for me, and millions of my peers, to go to school at all.
Some of us weren't raised in families where college was a certainty. Some of us don't have parents willing or able to contribute to our tuition. Some of us don't have parents who were even able to throw a few dollars a week into a jar for a future college fund. In my case, that wouldn't have mattered anyway, as I have a whole pack of siblings and there's no way all of us could have benefited.
What those of us who grew under those conditions of poverty have is the Pell Grant. And it means EVERYTHING to me. I get the full Pell, which was $5550 this year. I wouldn't even be able to afford a box of instant rice without it. College would be a distant dream. Sometimes, when I look at what's being proposed for federal financial aid, it feels like graduation still is that shimmering, long-off dream...a beautiful place I can see, but will never reach.
Obama's Pell proposal isn't THAT bad. Under Obama's plan, I would no longer be able to receive a summer Pell Grant, but for fall and winter semesters, my Pell would remain $5550:
President Barack Obama's budget plan would cut $100 billion from Pell Grants and other higher education programs over a decade through belt-tightening and use the savings to keep the maximum college financial aid award at $5,550, an administration official said.
....
The first proposal would end the "year-round Pell" policy that let students collect two grants in a calendar year, with the second grant used for summer school. The official said the costs exceeded expectations and there was little evidence that students earn their degrees any faster.
Note: the summer Pell has only been around since 2008. I'm not sure how radical a change in graduation frequency they were expecting in 2 years. But it's still a step above the Republican plan:
"The cuts slash the maximum award a student can receive by $845, a little more than 15 percent, for the students who can afford it the least," stated the news release from the California Public Interest Research Group.
So, let me get this straight...the wealthy, including Paul Ryan, get tax cuts. On the other hand, I get a Pell Grant slash even though tuition and food prices are rising wildly. Thanks, GOP! It's nice to know that I'm, um...sharing in the sacrifice.
What can be done about Pell costs? Well, perhaps we could raise taxes...but that's an even more ludicrous dream than the idea that the poor of America can receive college educations, isn't it? Hmm...maybe we could target the for-profit colleges that charge exorbitant tuition with very little return on investment. Oh, I forgot...Republicans oppose that too.
Developing nations like China are watching this and laughing behind our backs. They know that the future is education and innovation, and they are hungry for it. In the meantime, America is busy preparing its students for a lifetime of minimum wage jobs in a country where a minimum wage job means no benefits, no sick leave, no paid time off, and no collective bargaining. Does anyone really think this is a formula for national success?