During his first 50 days in office Obama passed a 300 billion dollar economic stimulus package that gave 105.9 billion dollars to the department of education.  15.6 billion dollars of the money given to the education went towards funding a 500 dollar increase in Pell Grants. Which made it possible for 7 million more kids to go to college.  The maximum Pell Grant award for 2009-2010 school year is 5,350 dollars.  It will increase to 5,500 dollars during the 2010-2011 school year.  This was the biggest Pell Grant increase ever, and if Obama has his way it won’t be the last.

A Pell Grant is federal financial aid that does not have to be repaid after a student graduates college.  Applying for a Pell Grant is fairly easy, you just log on to the FAFSA website and fill out a free application.  This application takes about an hour to fill out, asking for income information for you and your parents.  You will get an estimate of your Pell Grant award along with your financial aid award letter, or you will be given a check by your college.  How much your award is depends on, how financially needy you are, how many credits you are taking each term, and whether or not you will be in school for the entire academic year.

During my research on this subject I interviewed a fellow student who recieves a Pell Grant as part of his financial aid.  Josh Clark recieves a Pell Grant check once a term to attend the University of Oregon.  Josh gets the maximum 4,371 dollar award each year, along with 2,972 from the Oregon Opportunity Grant.  He uses the money from Grants, along with what it left from student loans as living expenses.  The money usually does get him through the term, but he says that it is barely enough.  When asking about meals Josh replied “lots of Ramen and Mac & Cheese”.

Josh was not able to earn the Pell Grant until he turned 24 because his parents income was just barely over the limit to earn one.   Even though he was living on his own he was still a dependant until age 24.  So thinking financially, Josh attended community college.  He commented that it was more comfortable living then, because he was able to find a job to support himself.  But he says that down in Eugene it is harder to find work.  Josh has worked at 10 resturaunts before, and when applying to work at resturaunts in Eugene he got a call back for one of them.

History of financial aid

• The first scholarship was awarded in 1643
• GI Bill (1944): Brought to light the idea that everyone benefits from a college education.
• Higher education act (1965): Introduced the Educational Opportunity grant program.
• Higher education amendment: Basic grant, now known as the pell grant is created.  Made grants portable (not tied to the institution).  This gave students the opportunity to choose which institution they wanted to attend.

• Amendments (1980): Basic Grant’s name is changed to the Pell Grant, honoring the work Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell.

Pell Grant Funding

Over the past decade the total cost of college has gone up aproximately 7,000 dollars, and the maximum Pell Grant award has increased by about 2,000 dollars.  This is not living up to what this Grant was created to.  When the Pell Grant was introduced it covered almost all of the total cost of attending college.  Over time the cost of attending college increased, but the federal government did not increase Pell Grant funds to offset the rise in tuition.  So now we have this huge gap to fill.

Obama’s history on education

Education is one of Barack Obama’s key issues.  During his time as State Senator helped introduce 4 education bills.  While on the campaign trail in 2008 Obama promised that college would be available to everyone, and that it was no longer going to be a dream.

Competing Ideas

Promise Program

• Created by Linda Brady at UNC.
• 40-50 throughout the country.
• Guarantees no student loans for tuition.
• Must be eligible for a Pell Grant.

Pathway Oregon

• Pathway Oregon is a Promise Program that was offered for the first time this term to incoming Freshman.  In order to qualify for this program you had to be an Oregon resident, filled out a FAFSA application, and qualify for a Pell Grant.  This year 415 students are benefiting from this opportunity, 42% of those kids are first generation college students.  The average high school GPA of the pathway students was a 3.58.  Not only does this program offer financial aid, but you get a free month of tutoring in math or foreign language.  So this program not only funds your education, but it makes sure that you succeed.

Free Higher Ed.

• Education is a basic right, so if you meet the requirements to attend college the government should pay for it.
• 1944 GI Bill was successful at making higher education free.
• There was also success when the New York University made attendance free.
• With the changes that have happened in the economy over the past three decades it is apparent that we need this opportunity now more than over.

Answer

I think that the government should be funding both Pell Grants and Promise Programs.  We need to keep increasing the maximum Pell Grant award in order offset the rise in college costs.  We also need to fund Promise Programs, because they are helping prevent college students from being in debt after college.

Arguments against answer

• The federal government has not come through with the funding in the past.  Why will they now?
• Education is a basic right. Shouldn’t it be free for everyone?

Work Cited:
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Summary: This website gives viewers a look into the history of financial aid.

Topic: Pell Grants
Category: Academic research
What is it: Web site
Publication info: Center for Higher Education Support Services
Author: Keesey, Mary

Location: http://www.chessconsulting.org/financialaid/history.htm
Accessed: 3/11/09
Support:

1McCormick, J.L. (1972). Journal of Student Financial Aid, 2.

2Brooks. NASFAA The First Twenty Years, p. 12-13.

3McCormick, J.L. (1972). Journal of Student Financial Aid, 2.

4de Gruyter, W. (1992). American Universities and Colleges, 14th Ed.

Usefulness:
This gave me all the information that I needed to know about the financial aid program’s history.  Pell grants were introduced in 1965, but back then they were called Basic Grants.  In 1975 the name was changed to the Pell Grant, honoring Senator Claiborne Pell’s support of education.

Summary: I interviewed Josh Clark, a UO transfer student who receives the maximum Pell Grant award each term.

Topic: Pell Grants
Category: Citizen
What is it: Interview
Author: John Spring
Date of the interview: 3/11/09

Usefulness:

I interviewed a fellow student who recieves a Pell Grant as part of his financial aid.  Josh Clark recieves a Pell Grant check once a term to attend the University of Oregon.  Josh gets the maximum 4,371 dollar award each year, along with 2,972 from the Oregon Opportunity Grant.  He uses the money from Grants, along with what it left from student loans as living expenses.  The money usually does get him through the term, but he says that it is barely enough.  When asking about meals Josh replied “lots of Ramen and Mac & Cheese”.

Summary: This is a picture of Linda Brady, creator of the Pathway Oregon program.

Topic: Pell grants
Category: Image
What is it: Photo
Publication: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 6/12/08
Author: Gilliam, Stephen

Location: http://www.uncg.edu/ure/news/stories/2008/jun/images/lbradyweb.png

Accessed: 3/9/09
Support:
Article by Stephen Gilliam
Summary:
The article describes how Linda was moving from being a Provost for the University of Oregon to a Chancellor position at UNCG this past summer.

Audience and Agenda:
University of North Carolina at Greensboro is home to approximately 16,000 students.  UNCG offers 100 undergraduate, 59 master’s, and 22 doctoral programs.

Usefulness:
Linda Brady is a significant figure in the topic of financial aid.  She created the first Promise Program at UNC, which made college free to those who qualified for a pell grant. Now there are 40-50 throughout the country, including the UO and OSU.

Summary: Bridges to Success is a program that Oregon State University introduced this year to help financially needy students afford college.

Topic: Pell Grants
Category: Academic
What is it? Web site
Publication info: Oregon State University, 2008-2009
Author: None given

Location: http://oregonstate.edu/financialaid/bridge-success
Accessed: 3/6/09

Support:
Video interview with OSU President Ed Ray.

Summary:
Ed Ray, President of OSU, gives an overview of what the Bridge to Success program is. In order to be eligible for this program you need to be eligible for the Pell Grant, and the Oregon Opportunity Grant.

Audience and agenda:
Oregon State University is one of the most popular institutions in Oregon.  It is located in Corvallis, and is home to 20,320 students.

Usefulness:
Bridges to Success is basically the same type of program that Pathway Oregon is.  The only difference between the two is that Pathway Oregon offers student tutoring along with financial aid. Money is just one part of the accessibility issue with higher education.  You need to make sure that kids have the resources needed to succeed in school.

Summary: This a photo that went along with an article about three college students dealing with college debt.
Topic: Pell Grants
Category:Journalistic/image
What is it? photo

Publication Info: Star Tribune, 10/11/08
Author: Crosby, Jackie

Location: http://www.startribune.com/business/30807559.html
Accessed: 3/7/09

Support:
- Picture caption
- Article
Summary:
The picture caption explains that this is a picture of Eva and Matt Johnson, their dog, and Eva’s brother Dexter.  They all live together because it seemed like the best thing to do financially.  The article gives context to the picture, giving the readers specifics about the debt situation.  Eva and Matt rented out their basement to Dexter, and have maxed their credit in order to pay bills.

Audience and agenda:
The Star Tribune is a daily newspaper located in St. Paul Minnesota. They have 415,497 daily subscribers, and 674,345 Sunday subscribers.

Usefulness:
This photo shows a real sense of togetherness between these three people.  You get the sense that they are all one big family, helping each other pay off college debt.  If Pell Grants were well funded then these kids would have been able to get through college reasonably debt free.

Summary: This is a website campaigning for the government to make attending college free for all students.

Topic:Pell Grants
Category: institutional
What is it? Web site
Publication info: Free Higher Ed. campaign
Authors: Reed Jr., Adolf; Smith, Preston H.

Location: http://www.freehighered.org/index.html

Accessed: 3/8/09
Support:

• GI Bill (1944)
• New York University system

Summary:
The GI Bill was a successful bill that FDR introduced in 1944 towards the end of Worl War II.  It gave veterans a chance at a free higher education.  It has since been considered one of the single most successful legislative decisions.  In the 1960′s City University of New york opened its doors to all who wanted to attend.  During this time period there was a huge increase in the number of students attending CUNY.  Due to financial issues CUNY was forced to start charging tution again in 1975.
Audience and agenda:
The Free Higher Ed. campaign is part of the Labor Party, and the website was created in 2004.  The labor party is a political made to address the issues of the working class.  There was no information on how many people were supporting the Free Higher Ed campaign.
Usefulness:
This web site shows a competing idea to the way our higher education system is currently run.  It seems like a pie in the sky dream that will never happen, at least not for quite a while.  With our current economic situation the federal government is not going to be able to fund making college free for all students.  A more realistic plan would be continuing to fund Pell Grants in order to offset the rise in tuition.

Work cited:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_University_of_New_York#Open_admissions_and_remedial_education

http://thelaborparty.org/index.html

Summary: This is a comparison of pell grant funding between when the Republicans controlled the House of Rep. to when the Democrats did.

Topic: Pell grants

Category: Citizen
What is it? Photo
Publication info:Flickr, 7/12/07

Location: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brevardyoungdemocrats/789118662/
Accessed: 3/11/09

Support:None given
Audience and agenda:
The Brevard young democrats is a group on flickr.  This group is comprised of 16-42 year olds, and their mission is to promote political activism amongst young voters in Brevard county.

Usefulness:
This graph really gives viewers a sense of which political party is pushing for increases in Pell Grants.  Looking back on this information now, it makes me wonder if these increases are still going to take place  along with the new increases that were approved this year.  The key point to take away from this is that we need a democratic majority to have a hope of increasing Grant funds.
Work cited:

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h2669/show

Summary: This graph shows the increase in the maximum award of pell grants in comparison to the rising costs of college from 1976 – 2008.
Topic: Pell Grants
Category: Image
What is it? Graph
Publication info: US Department of Education, 2008
Author: none given

Location: http://www.nea.org/assets/img/content/09BB-Pell-Grant-Max-Award-vs-Total-Costs.gif

Accessed: 3/7/09

Audience and agenda:
The Department of Education is the governmental body that is in charge of the United States education system.  The agenda of this organization is to keep Americans informed on current education issues.  The audience that this information would geared towards would be people following the rising costs of college tuition, or Pell Grant recipients.

Usefulness:
This graph really illustrates well the gap between the maximum Pell Grant award and the total cost of a year of college.  Right now the maximum Pell Grant award covers approximately 1/3 of the total college costs.  There are programs at 40-50 colleges, they are called promise programs.  The University of Oregon just started one this year called Pathway Oregon.   These programs pay the remainder of a students tuition that is not covered through Pell Grants.  The federal government needs to keep increasing funding for Pell Grants so that Promise Programs will be able to thrive and be able to help more people.

Work Cited:

http://pathwayoregon.uoregon.edu/?p=home

Usefulness:
The new Pathway Oregon program is giving 415 incoming freshman students a chance at a college education.  42 % of those freshman are 1st generation college students, and 1/3 of them are students of color.  The average high school GPA of the students participating in Pathway is 3.58.
To be eligible for the Pathway to Oregon program you must be an Oregon resident, have filled out a FAFSA application online, and be eligible for a pell grant.  How it works is if there is a remaining balance on your student account after grants and scholarships, then the Pathway funds will account for the rest of your tuition costs.
Pathway Oregon also gives students tutoring opportunities.  The Pathway office is located in the Academic Learning Services buidling, which is also home to the tutoring center for students.  Students in the program get one free term of math or foriegn language tutoring, and have  a writing and math lab.

Work Cited:

http://pathwayoregon.uoregon.edu/?p=home