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At least 67,500 students in America will benefit from a Pell grant scholarship increase. This is especially true for students of Hudson Valley who find themselves greatly in debt, said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

According to the SUNY New Paltz financial aid director, Daniel Sistarenik, formula for grant eligibility will not change in any manner due to the passing of the law. The law will specifically aim at enhancing college education access for low-income students. A fact to be noted here is there is a great increase in the number of qualified students due to the recession.

According to Sistarenik, the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act was signed by the president last week to ensure “open admission” schools such as the Ulster County Community College are benefited the most.

According to UCCC spokesman Ron Marquette, there is widespread expectation of enhanced levels of Pell Grant at the financial aid office and that out of 3,500 students at least 871 students qualify for the grant.

Marquette said that the coming fall will see a great improvement in enrollments in community colleges. Across the nation, Gillibrand says that at least 6.2 million students relied on Pell Grants and 90% of them earn below $40,000 a year.

According to him, every student in New York must have access to higher education that will eventually ensure professional and personal success and not lead them to a life of financial debt. Colleges must be a platform where they are able to bloom to their full potential. Many are unable to pursue their dreams due to rising tuition costs and student debts, he said.

New York ranks 4th in the nation as far as students graduating with debts are concerned. The Institute for College Access and Success says that graduates from four year colleges come out with $25,950 debt in New York.

Sistarenik said that at SUNY New Paltz, student debts are commiserating with national averages. He also said that the default rates are below the national and state averages. Lower default rates are predominantly due to the effective programs organized by colleges that enables students to benefit from enhanced job opportunities, helpful counseling by financial aid officers and the institute’s affordability.

According to the Institute for College Access and Success, the year 2007 saw 13 percent of students benefiting from Pell Grants at the Bard College, where the graduates left college burdened with a debt of $20,201.

The 2008 graduates off the Culinary Institute of America walked out of college with a debt of $29,351. The 20007-08 batch saw at least twenty percent of the 2,823 students receiving Pell Grants.

With continued rising of the cost of education, there has been a substantial increase in student debt too. New York State has been on top of the “high debt” list with Utah students seeing the lowest average debt of $13,041 in the year 2008. Statistics aside, it remains to be see how far the American students will significantly benefit from the increase in Pell Grant scholarships.