Unease grows over the future of pell Grants

[primroselane]

Earlier this year, Congress passed legislation that provided an extra $36 billion over 10 years to the Pell grant program and increased the maximum grant to $5,550, up from $4,050 five years ago. But with a new Congress arriving in January and determined to cut spending, it is unclear whether that expansion is sustainable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/ed...8pell.html?hpw

[Bigkat80]

It should be cut...to much emphasis is placed in this country on equal playing fields colleges are fine but not necessary to be successful if you can afford to pay your own way or you get private scholarships so be it...if not get out of hS and go to work and work your way up.....I am tired of subsidizing other peoples kids to go to college....

[steff bugielski]

I have to agree.
My DD got a very low interest loan for collage with a very low monthly payment. If she can handle it anyone can.

[Alice In TX/MO]

One of my renters is a mother with three daughters and a disabled husband. They are surviving on Pell Grants.

I totally support the program.

[farmmom]

SC has a education lottery. The largest percentage of this money is used to send kids to college. The grade schools just got 20 new buses. I don't personally play the lottery, but they have so much money coming in this way, why do they need the extra grants? Kids are being sent to the tech colleges for 2 years for free, then, if they do well, they get a lifelong learning grant. I don't see why Pell needs increased, at least in this state.

[Callieslamb]

Pell Grants are great. They got us through college as well as a couple of our kids. I support this program! But I don't think they should ever pay for more than tuition. When people are living on them, I have a problem with that.

You might want to check and see how much money the schools actually get from the lotteries. In Iowa, they passed a lottery "for the children". The problem was that the state budget cut spending on school when the lottery money started coming in. The schools didn't get MORE money they got the same amount - just from a different pot.

[poppy]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

One of my renters is a mother with three daughters and a disabled husband. They are surviving on Pell Grants.

I totally support the program.

I see why you would. You are receiving income from the program. Uh, Pell grants are not designed for people to survive off of. They are supposed to be for education. How about the woman gets a job and if her husband is truly disabled, he draws some sort of disability and they survive on those just like millions of other people?

[willow_girl]

When I was in college 20 years ago, I knew a lot of students who were receiving Pell grants.

The problem with the grants, as far as I can see, is that one has to be VERY low-income to qualify for them. People who are not capable of holding even a minimum-wage job probably are not the best candidates for college. They probably have a low I.Q. and/or some significant educational gaps that will require lots of support (remedial classes, tutoring) if they're to be successful.

I never qualified for a Pell grant because even without a college education, I was bright and/or ambitious enough to land jobs that paid enough to put me "out of the running." It's one of the reasons I never managed to finish school, although I'm proud to say I maintained a 3.9 GPA as a math and science major for the time I was able to attend.

Along similar lines, Pell grants also serve to reward poor decision-making. One of my classmates was a bright young woman who was living in her parents' home and working part-time in a bank to pay her way through college. I remember her remarking bitterly that she'd be better off having a child out of wedlock -- welfare would provide her with a subsidized apartment and Pell grants would pay for her tuition. She could live on her own and not have to work anymore! I'm not sure if she ever acted on that realization, but I hope not.

I think it would be wiser for society to invest its limited resources in the best and brightest, those most likely to succeed and pay back the investment in their education. I understand some countries give free-ride scholarships to their most promising high school students. Imagine the kind of achievement we might see here if we were to offer that sort of incentive? Instead, we reward teen parents and drop-outs.

[Wolf mom]

Maybe it's because the default rate has been rising for the past 3 years on Pell grants.

I have 2 kids, both masters level: one, like me, worked her way through school, the other has $30,000 in school loans (not including his wife's). Schooling can be done without grants/loans.

Aside from believing that any school loan or grant should be very limited, I think there needs to be a refocus on education: the tenure system, cost of school books when putting out a supplemental to the original text would work as well. And that's only two cost cutting examples.....

[poppy]

Originally Posted by willow_girl

I think it would be wiser for society to invest its limited resources in the best and brightest, those most likely to succeed and pay back the investment in their education. I understand some countries give free-ride scholarships to their most promising high school students. Imagine the kind of achievement we might see here if we were to offer that sort of incentive? Instead, we reward teen parents and drop-outs.

I think it would be wiser for society to stop squandering its limited resources on grants of any kind. Let parents and students pay their own way through college by working or borrowing. Tuition has been steadily rising largely due to such grants. Colleges know they can raise tuition because enough students can get free money and don't care how much tuition is.

[jadedhkr]

Guess I'm one of those poor, dumb recipients. I went back to school when my oldest three were toddlers, both my husband and I were working at better than minimum wage jobs and I qualified for the pell grant. It never paid for more than classes and books though, so I don't get the living off of it thing. I maintained a 4.0 gpa that first year too, so they aren't just handing them out to idiots. Like anything else, there will always be inappropriate use, people who take advantage, and mistakes made. Doesn't make it a bad program, just poorly screened maybe.

[Jena]

I am getting Pell grants now for school. I'm pretty sure that I am not an idiot, though I suppose some could make an argument for that. I do get good grades.

All these grants are is subsidizing the schools. I don't see any of the money, it all goes to tuition. They make us think that we are getting something, but in reality, it's the same as if they just added to the income tax or something. Those with more income, pay more towards the schools, those with less, pay less, but the government makes up the difference.

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

One of my renters is a mother with three daughters and a disabled husband. They are surviving on Pell Grants.

I totally support the program.

Alice I would say they are more than likely getting Student Loans which more than likely they will default on.

big rockpile

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by willow_girl

When I was in college 20 years ago, I knew a lot of students who were receiving Pell grants.

The problem with the grants, as far as I can see, is that one has to be VERY low-income to qualify for them. People who are not capable of holding even a minimum-wage job probably are not the best candidates for college. They probably have a low I.Q. and/or some significant educational gaps that will require lots of support (remedial classes, tutoring) if they're to be successful.

I never qualified for a Pell grant because even without a college education, I was bright and/or ambitious enough to land jobs that paid enough to put me "out of the running." It's one of the reasons I never managed to finish school, although I'm proud to say I maintained a 3.9 GPA as a math and science major for the time I was able to attend.

Along similar lines, Pell grants also serve to reward poor decision-making. One of my classmates was a bright young woman who was living in her parents' home and working part-time in a bank to pay her way through college. I remember her remarking bitterly that she'd be better off having a child out of wedlock -- welfare would provide her with a subsidized apartment and Pell grants would pay for her tuition. She could live on her own and not have to work anymore! I'm not sure if she ever acted on that realization, but I hope not.

I think it would be wiser for society to invest its limited resources in the best and brightest, those most likely to succeed and pay back the investment in their education. I understand some countries give free-ride scholarships to their most promising high school students. Imagine the kind of achievement we might see here if we were to offer that sort of incentive? Instead, we reward teen parents and drop-outs.

Think your Way Off Track! The way society is anymore a person without a College Education has no chance of finding a Job.So pay for an Education or Pay out in the way of Welfare.

big rockpile

[MoonRiver]

Pell Grants are one of the main reasons college tuition is so expensive. Same is true for technical schools. If the money was coming out of people's pocket, you would see enrollment in community colleges soar.

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by MoonRiver

Pell Grants are one of the main reasons college tuition is so expensive. Same is true for technical schools. If the money was coming out of people's pocket, you would see enrollment in community colleges soar.

Community Colleges the cost is still out of most peoples reach.

big rockpile

[FunnyRiverFarm]

I just wish there was a way to give out these grants on the basis of merit rather than how much money you make. Why should students who are consistently poor preformers and rarely show up for class get more money for school than the folks who bust their behinds working full time and maintaining a 4.0 grade average? GET REAL!

I love hearing about grants that helped people acheive their dreams....but get somewhat bitter and angry when I see students that take the "free" money and then don't try and end up dropping out after a semester or two of skipping class and blowing off assignments. It's really a harsh blow to students who are very motivated to do well and constanly stressed about how they're going to pay for their education because they don't qualify for government grants or student loans.

[Callieslamb]

Originally Posted by willow_girl

................The problem with the grants, as far as I can see, is that one has to be VERY low-income to qualify for them. People who are not capable of holding even a minimum-wage job probably are not the best candidates for college. They probably have a low I.Q. and/or some significant educational gaps that will require lots of support (remedial classes, tutoring) if they're to be successful.

WOW! I really can't believe you wrote that! Of course, I have to prove you wrong. DS- PhD, DD - masters. DSILs - PhD and Law school. Grants got them through bachelors. Each of them was married - which helped them qualify.

Just because you are poor doesn't make you a bad student. My kids qualified on minimum wage jobs. They worked - grounds keeping, custodians, tutors - whatever it took. One carted newly deceased folks around the state to get them to the funeral home. One cleaned a theater nightly - LATE at night and still go up early for custodial work. They paid their rent, food, books, etc. Grants paid the tuition.

I think every person that wants to go to college should get a chance to try. They can show how badly they want it by working for it. Some students that do poorly in HS actually do very well in college. DBrother- learning disabled classes his entire public school experience. College - let them use computers. The limitations of having to write by hand was removed and DB now has his PhD -teaches college.

I do think that if you are flunking out of college, your grant money should disappear. Use it wisely or lose it.

[Callieslamb]

Originally Posted by Wolf mom

Maybe it's because the default rate has been rising for the past 3 years on Pell grants. .....

You don't pay back grants so there is NO default rate on them. Student loans are where the defaulting is happening. Different animal.

[Danaus29]

I also was a recipient of a Pell Grant. I didn't get to finish my classes because of a serious ilness and an allergic reaction to the medication but the ones I did take I got very good grades in. Also got good grades in vocational school and was in the very top percentile on the ACT tests. I tested out of several subjects in college.

Dh also got Pell Grants. He got very good grades in college and earned an Associates degree.

ETA, what's the difference, letting people default on student loans or giving the college the money for books and tuition?