Obama seeks changes to keep PELL grants at $5,500/yr rather than cut to $2500

[uppityperson]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110213/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_pell_grants

President Barack Obama's budget plan would cut $100 billion from Pell Grants and other higher education programs over a decade through belt-tightening and use the savings to keep the maximum college financial aid award at $5,550, an administration official said.
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The first proposal would end the "year-round Pell" policy that let students collect two grants in a calendar year, with the second grant used for summer school. The official said the costs exceeded expectations and there was little evidence that students earn their degrees any faster.
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A second proposal would reduce loan subsidies for graduate and professional students. That would free $2 billion next year and save $29 billion over 10 years, according to the official. The government currently pays the interest on student loans for some graduate and professional students as long as they stay in college. But the official said experts think the subsidy has failed to encourage more students to attend graduate school and it isn't well-matched to borrowers who have trouble repaying the loans.

The administration also has expanded other programs that help students reduce loan payments and ultimately forgive debt they can no longer afford to repay....(more including expanding use of IRS to ease application process)

Having a child in school I would be very happy to have the PELL grants remain the same and remain accessible to more students. Without action, officials say, the maximum award would have to be cut by more than $2,500 to meet demand.