Posts Tagged ‘pell grants’
College, Election Season, and YOU!
Photo: liveuselections.info
In case you hadn’t noticed, there is an important election happening this fall in the United States. Obama vs. Romney is in full swing and both parties are spouting their views on and plans for higher education. If you are a college student, or will be one soon, the election affects you and your education in a big way!
The Fundamentals
President Obama and Mitt Romney differ primarily on the role that the private sector – individuals or private groups – should play when it comes to education. A recent Chicago Tribune article outlines Obama’s opposition to and Romney’s advocacy for the private sector playing a large role in funding college tuition.
Private Colleges do not receive money from their state. Their tuition is usually higher because they operate with private funding.
For-Profit Colleges operate more like businesses. The tuition students pay helps the school operate and stay in business. Many of these schools endorse Mitt Romney.
Public Universities receive funding from state and federal governments.
Obama’s Views
- The President has criticized the higher education industry of failing to deliver on its promises to students; graduates are often left with debt and a degree that fails to help them find rewarding and beneficial employment.
- On a recent college town tour, President Obama declared that a college education “isn’t a luxury, it is an economic necessity that every family should be able to afford.”
Romney’s Views
- Believes for-profit colleges spur good competition.
- Federal grants and loans are too easily available and actually increase tuition costs.
- Romney’s goal is to strengthen and simplify the current financial aid system by offering students choices instead of determining stiff regulations.
Obama’s Plan
- In June 2012, the current administration froze interest rates on federal student loans, saving each student about $1,000 per year.
- He would create an American Opportunity Tax Credit for students. Under this credit, the first $4,000 of college education would be free for most Americans. Community Colleges would cost nothing for most students to attend. Two thirds (66%) of the average public college or university tuition would be covered by this credit. It is unspecified what is meant by average in this scenario.
- The President also promises to better the opportunities available for college students with disabilities.
- The financial aid application process would be reduced to a simple check mark on a family’s tax form.
Romney’s Plan
- Romney would repeal the freeze on federal student loan interest rates, asserting the need for educational reform over frozen rates.
- His running mate, Paul Ryan, has proposed a budget plan that cuts domestic spending, which includes education. This would also cut the number of students eligible for Pell Grants.
- Federal aid would continue to support private and for-profit colleges, and private banks would take over the federal student loan program.
- Romney would attempt to repeal a law that requires for-profit colleges to receive some funding from students paying full tuition, and not just from federal student loans.
Whether you require financial aid or use federal funding for your higher education, being informed about this year’s Presidential election is incredibly important. Find out about the issues and how they affect you and your family. If you’re 18 or older, get registered and vote your voice this November!
FAFSA Break Down: Pell Grants
By filling out a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), prospective and current students can deduce their eligibility to receive help from the government to pay for their higher education. There are several different grants, loans, and programs that can be awarded to help students pay for their higher education. If you are a student who requires financial aid, you might receive a Pell Grant. What exactly is a Pell Grant? Let’s break it down.
Who: Pell Grants are available to undergraduate students who have not yet earned their Bachelor’s degree and do not currently owe money towards any other student loans.
What: These grants do not have to be repaid. Pell Grants are often used as the foundation to a student’s financial aid; additional forms of aid can be applied along with Pell Grants. As of July 1, 2012 the maximum amount a student can receive for one award year is $5,500; students can continue to receive aid up to 12 semesters. The amount awarded per year varies depending on the EFC (Expected Family Contribution as calculated by the FAFSA), the cost of the institution, and whether or not the recipient plans to attend full-time or part-time.
The scheduled award is the max amount of money a student receives in one award year (July 1st – June 30th). You may not use 100% of this scheduled award amount each year if you are a part-time student. If this is the case, it’s possible that the leftover percentage can be applied to subsequent semesters until you reach the full 600% you’ve been given. The 600% comes from the 12 semester maximum; each semester accounts for 50% of your scheduled award.
Where: There are roughly 5,400 colleges and universities where you can use a Pell Grant.
How: Schools can either apply the funds directly to the student’s costs or pay the student by check. Sometimes, colleges and universities will utilize a combination of these two methods. Either way, the school must outline in writing how they plan on paying the student, the amount the student will receive with each payment, and when the payments will be made. Schools must pay the student once per term. Basically, if your school is on a semester schedule, each semester you should receive a Pell Grant payment. If for some reason your school does not have a semester, trimester or quarter system, you will receive payments twice per year.
When: Applications begin rolling in on January 1st for that year’s academic school year. So, if you need financial aid beginning in September of 2013, you can send in your FAFSA on or after January 1, 2013. Remember that the funds are limited and given out on a first come, first serve basis. Deadlines for FAFSA submissions vary by state. Double check with your academic adviser to find out your state’s FAFSA deadline. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to two months for your application to be processed!
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Friday College Town Hall
In Friday College Town Hall, we post a question about college, and you leave an answer in the comment field.
Today’s question:
Congress’s 2012 appropriations legislation had some notable eligibility changes to financial aid policy including:
1. Effective immediately and retroactively, students are only eligible for six full-time years of the Pell Grant vs. what used to be 9 years.
2. Students who have only passed an Ability to Benefit test (those who don’t have a GED or high school diploma, or who weren’t homeschooled) will no longer be eligible for federal aid.
3. The family income and expected family contribution scales have shifted slightly, knocking some students out of eligibility. So students who received small grants might become ineligible.
Are you aware of these changes to student federal aid?
Have a thought or an answer? Leave a reply below.
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11 Most Economically Diverse Colleges
As college tuition becomes a steeper mountain to climb every year, it’s nice to see that some schools value economic diversity. After all, there has to be some place the rest of the 99% can enroll in a higher education.
The US News and World Report created this list of the most economically diverse student bodies by researching the percentage of undergraduates receiving Pell Grants for low-income students. Pell Grants are generally given to undergrads who come from families with incomes under $20,000.
So, it’s not the perfect measure, because, who knows, there may be some schools out there admitting thousands of kids just above the Pell Grant line, but it’s still a pretty good barometer to see how many low-income students are on a given campus.
So here are 11 universities who have made a big commitment to economic diversity:
1. New Mexico State University
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 87%
Quick fact: NMSU is the only research-extensive, land-grant, USA-Mexico border institution classified as Hispanic serving by the federal government.
2. Jackson State University
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 81%
Quick fact: A member of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, JSU holds an important place in the history of US civil rights.
3. South Carolina State University
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 80%
Quick fact: Quick fact: It is the only state funded, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina and is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.
4. Texas Southern University
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 78%
Quick fact: As a result, of Heman Marion Sweatt, an African American man, who applied to the University of Texas School of Law but was denied admission because of race,the state founded Texas Southern University under Senate Bill 140 by the Fiftieth Texas Legislature on March 3, 1947 as a state university to be located in Houston and to serve African Americans in Texas.
5. Kent State University
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 77%
Quick fact: During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the university was known internationally for its student activism in opposition to US involvement in the Vietnam war, due mainly to the events of May 4, 1970 where Ohio Army National Guard unit fired at students during an anti-war protest on campus, killing four and wounding nine.
6. Texas A&M University
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 73%
Quick fact: The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M’s enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school history.
7. Florida Institute of Technology
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 69%
Quick fact: Florida Tech’s curriculum is largely focused on engineering and science fields.
8. Tennessee State University
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 66%
Quick fact: TSU is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennessee.
9. Our Lady of the Lake University
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 61%
Quick fact: OLLU was founded in 1895 by the Sisters of the Congregation of Divine Providence, a religious order originating in Lorraine, France, during the 18th century.
10. University of Texas – El Paso
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 60%
Quick fact: UTEP is the largest university in the U.S. with a majority Mexican-American student population (about 75%).
11. North Carolina A&T State University
Percent of undergraduates receiving Pell grants: 56%
Quick fact:North Carolina A&T athletic teams are referred to as the “Aggies,” which is a diminutive name for “Agriculture” which is the “A” in A&T.
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What the Debt Ceiling Legislation Means for Your College Education
This has been the summer of the debt crisis and a seemingly never-ending debate on raising the debt ceiling. Even if you didn’t really quite understand–or care to understand–the impact of the resulting bill signed by President Obama earlier this week, one of the biggest public concerns throughout the debate was how it would harm access to higher education. So was the future of college and graduate education harmed or protected?
Nothing is ever completely black or white, but here are some details of what the legislation will do:
Overall, the legislation will couple an increase in the government’s borrowing cap with more than $2 trillion in budget cuts over the coming decade, including cuts to federal education spending. So, do you want good news or bad news first?
If you chose “bad news,” skip to the section that says “bad news.” For “good news,” keep reading.
Good news:
Despite the nail biting induced by fear that the Pell Grant program would encounter extremely deep cuts, the program was salvaged. Need a reminder of what the Pell Grant program is? Basically Pell Grants are designated to students from low-income families. They are grants for college that do not have to be repaid. According to the U.S. Despartment of Education, more than 19 million undergraduate students are expected to be awarded Pell Grants in the upcoming academic year. That’s a lot of students and a lot of education.
Instead of harmful cuts to the program, as was expected, the Pell Grants progam will receive $17 billion in funding at no additional cost to taxpayers.
Which leads us to the bad news:
If the Pell Grant program is safe, and at no additional cost to the taxpayers, where does the $17 billion come from? No, not a money tree. Those don’t exist yet (I’m currently working on it in the secret laboratory in my basement). With a money tree out of the picture, money has to be cut from elsewhere. In this case, saving the Pell Grant program came at the cost of government-subsidized loans for graduate and professional students. The loans will be eliminated in July 2012, which means that graduate students would have to pay interest on their loans while still in school. On top of that, the rate reduction on student loan interest for on-time payments will be eliminated.
Together, these two changes are expected to generate $22 billion in savings, with $17 billion allocated for Pell Grants and the remaining $5 billion helping to reduce the deficit.
Nobody was expecting a win-win situation to come out of the legislation, but it will definitely be interesting to see how pitting undergraduate education against graduate and professional education will work in the long run.
Is this good news or bad news? Share your opinion by leaving a comment below.
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10 Most Economically Diverse Colleges
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on whether colleges and universities are living up to their economically diverse stance for their student body.During the past decade, the country’s wealthiest and most elite colleges have faced heightened pressure to serve more low-income students. So are they doing it?
The Chronicle looked at which schools the students receiving Pell Grants–federal aid for students who generally come from families with annual incomes of less than $40,000–are attending, and the news is that Pell Grant students are still significantly less represented at the wealthiest colleges than they are at public and nonprofit four-year colleges nationwide
Here are the 10 most economically diverse colleges and the percentage of Pell Grant recipients attending each one according to the Chronicle:
1. University of California Los Angeles – 30.7%
2. Smith College – 23.6%
3. The University of Texas at Austin – 21.4%
4. Michigan State University – 18.8%
5. Ohio State University – 17.8%
6. University of Washington – 17.4%
7. Case Western Reserve University – 17.3%
8. Texas A&M University – 16.2%
9. Amherst College – 15.9%
10. University of Southern California – 15.6%
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