Blogs:

 Republican Paul Ryan, with his budget plan recently created a furor in the higher education circuit. The budget plan known as Path to Prosperity aims to control the government debt, which is considered to be catastrophic by many, by cutting various federal programs, reconstructing the Medicare and lowering the government spending.

Regardless of the various opinions regarding the national debt and the partisan divides one thing should be agreed by the ideological adversaries that there should be no cuts in programs that help the struggling people in the country. One of these programs is the Pell grants. 

$5,500 is provided by this federal grant to college students throughout the nation. According to many the Pell Grants are not the only cause of the country’s fiscal problems and the problem cannot be solved by cutting down on them.

However only Paul Ryan cannot be blamed for this as even the budget proposed by President Obama would remove these grants that can stop many students from completing their college education. But the proposal of Ryan goes beyond everything as it will cut almost 850 dollars from the grant of each student. This amount of money cannot be replaced by many from struggling background.

Republican Michele Bachmann said that there is a huge inflation in the field of higher education and so there is a strong need for greater affordability. But she did not say anything opposing or in support of the plan of Ryan. David Loebsack, the representative from Iowa who himself was a recipient of the federal grants took a stronger position and said categorically that he will fight for the Pell Grants.

In the last few years the grants have increased tremendously and this is leading to a shortfall.  So, according to many these federal grants are becoming unsustainable and this is the reason behind the proposed cuts. But the cuts in the grants cannot be the right solution.

According to a report last month the college lobbyists are looking to make the necessary cuts in the summer grants and not the awards. This is something that is similar to the plan of President Obama. However if the education budget is facing problems then the administration should explore other alternatives.

There is one more potential measure for cost saving. The Education Department must ensure that the institutions that are receiving the Pell Grants prove that they are getting their students ready for employment. The for-profit colleges will be excluded from this.

Lawmakers are trying to fight against this rule. Many students from different universities across the United States will be hit by the cuts in the Pell Grants. A large part of college students receive financial aid from the federal government in the form of Pell Grants. This saves them from the educational loans that are very expensive.

The Pell Grants have become very essential with rising student debt and increasing tuition. So it is extremely important for the administration to protect these grants at any cost. We can only wait with bated breath to see what happens.