Come on Kline, the Pell Grant?

By Michael Diedrich, Policy Associate, October 17, 2011 at 10:00 am

In all the categories of government initiatives that conservatives want to cut, you would think that one that might be safe would be the Pell Grant program. Here is a program aimed at facilitating that upward mobility that is so much a part of the American mythology. It's sole purpose is to help low-income students go to college.

Apparently, however, that isn't worthy enough for John Kline. He just filed a recommendation with the budget supercommittee that would reduce the number of students eligibile for Pell Grants. This is just shameful.

In particular, Kline supports a broader conservative proposal to disqualify students who are less than half-time—you know, low-income students who are trying to further their education while supporting themselves with hard work—and reduce lifetime eligibility from nine years to six.

The savings to be reaped next year from this dramatic change? $3.6 billion. As with almost all government expenditures, that sounds like a lot. But, as with almost all government expenditures, it's worth looking at this cost in context. $3.6 billion is less than 0.1% of the $3.8 trillion budget. Not exactly what I'd call a budget-killing expenditure.

In other words, Kline supports a miniscule savings in exchange for weakening our core principles. That $3.6 billion doesn't mean much to the federal budget, but it means a lot to those who benefit from it. In a time when our government should be investing in its citizens, the conservative emphasis on austerity for the sake of austerity flies in the face of what this country ought to be.

I had thought that I couldn't be shocked anymore by this kind of conservative shenanigans. I was wrong. Our policymakers need to hear from us that this is unacceptable. They need to hear that the American people still care about each other, that all citizens are made stronger when we invest in each other, and that proposals to weaken that investment in each other will be met by cries of outrage.

Posted in Education | Related Topics: Higher Education  Federal Government  Education Funding