Bush's lump of coal for students

[Tony_Illinois]

By Clarence Page

Published December 29, 2004


WASHINGTON -- A couple of days before Christmas, thousands of the nation's college students found someone left a big lump of coal in their backpacks.

Just call him President Scrooge. Yes, for a man who likes to call himself an education president, it didn't take President Bush long to break one of his proudest education promises. As recently as his final debate with Sen. John Kerry, the president promised to "continue to expand Pell Grants to make sure that people have an opportunity to start their career with a college diploma." That sounded great. I like to hear presidents talk about improving educational opportunities. Take it from me, children, nothing beats a good education in distinguishing the movers and shakers of this world from those who get moved and shaken.

And the federal scholarships known as Pell Grants have been a spectacular success in encouraging poor and middle-income young people who might otherwise not quite be able to afford to go to college or stay enrolled. Almost all of the 5.3 million Pell recipients come from families earning less than $40,000 a year who, as any parent of a college student can tell you, face a steep climb. College costs have risen 14 percent in the past year alone.

One federal study in the mid-1990s found that a mere $1,000 increase in the average Pell Grant would raise undergraduate retention rates by at least 15 percent. Considering the overall benefits that an educated population brings to our society, that sounds like a bargain.

But two days before Christmas, the Bush administration gave those struggling students an unwelcome surprise: a new Pell Grant eligibility formula that will knock 80,000 to 90,000 students off the eligibility rolls in 2005 and slash grants to 1.3 million others, according to two studies. (Congress' Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance conducted one of the analyses. The other came from the American Council on Education, which represents about 1,800 colleges and universities.)

Happy holidays, kids.
<snip>

Full column at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0412290112dec29,1,1506085.column?coll=chi-news-col

[coloradodem2005]

1. He will rot in hell for everything he has done.

:grr:

[NYC]

3. I sincerely hope so.

And may the rotting start now.

[NYC]

2. 2 days before Christmas.

When people are less likely to be paying attention to the news.

...But two days before Christmas, the Bush administration gave those struggling students an unwelcome surprise: a new Pell Grant eligibility formula that will knock 80,000 to 90,000 students off the eligibility rolls in 2005 and slash grants to 1.3 million others, according to two studies...

[ClintonTyree]

4. I'm fearing for my daughter..........

she's in her Junior year at University, and we depend quite heavily on the grants as well as loans to get her through. It's going to be a very lean time I expect for the next year and a half.
Thanks Resident Bush, like I didn't have enough to worry about before you completely fucked up our country.
This asshole will HAVE TO go down in history as the worst Resident to ever inhabit the White House. Unless of course he or his kind is writing the history books.

[illflem]

5. They don't call him stingy for nothing

[Calvinist Basset]

6. I came from a poor family.

I mean, I remember living without a telephone, without electricity and so forth. I depended, yes, depended on loans, grants and scholarships to get me through college.

--Reagan took away a grant program for children of veterans, for which I was eligible

--George Bush the First reduced my eligibility for certain programs

Still, I was able to get some financial assistance--but much of it through debt, debt, debt.

--George Bush the Second is just following in the footsteps of his mentors

Even many thousands of dollars in debt later, I am grateful for my college education (and subsequent graduate education). So I mourn for all these students who will be adversely affected by Chimpy's hateful action. College is so much more expensive than what I knew in the 80's.