After President Barack Obama unveiled his $3.7 trillion Fiscal Year 2012 budget Monday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan discussed how education will be affected in a call with reporters.
A large portion of the budget — $77.4 billion — will be allocated to education, Duncan said.
“The president revealed a budget plan that makes deep cuts,” Duncan said.
Duncan said his department has seen a “historic” increase in demand for Pell Grants over the last two years, and the program is facing a $20 billion deficit by the end of 2012.
Melody Barnes, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said since 2008 the administration has increased the maximum Pell Grant amount by $819. The increase made the grant available to more than 9 million students.
But, in order to sustain the maximum grant at $5,550, “tough choices” had to be made, Duncan said. The budget would enact a new Pell Grant Protection Act which would no longer allow students to qualify for two Pell Grants in a calendar year and attend school year-round.
According to the White House, the year-round Pell Grant cost 10 times more than anticipated, and it failed to demonstrate a meaningful impact on students’ academic progress.
Through the Pell Grant Protection Act, the in-school interest subsidy for graduate and professional student loans will also be eliminated.
Duncan said this approach would allow the Pell Grant to be fully funded over the next decade. He also said the year-round Pell Grant was not affordable.
“It is something that is financially unsustainable,” he said.
Eastern Michigan Univerity junior Patrick Lawrence said he’s disappointed the year-round Pell Grant is ending.
“I was thinking about taking classes during the spring and summer to cut down on the time I have to graduate,” Lawrence said. “Without a Pell Grant, that’s definitely not going to happen.”
In a press conference Tuesday, President Obama used the cuts to Pell Grant program as an example of how they were necessary to preserve his administrations “core commitment to expanding opportunity.”
“The take-up rate on the Pell Grant program has skyrocketed,” Obama said. “The costs have gone up significantly. If we continue on this pace, sooner or later what’s going to happen is we’re just going to have to chop off eligibility. We’ll just have to say, that’s it, we can’t do this anymore, it’s too expensive.”
Instead of taking that route, the president said his administration took a scalpel to the program.
“On the summer school thing, let’s eliminate that,” Obama said. “That will save us some money, but the core functions of the program are sustained. That’s how we’re approaching all these cuts.” Duncan said although some students took advantage of the year-round grants, the numbers weren’t large enough.
“In tough budget times, we saw it as a bigger priority to maintain the maximum Pell Grant of $5,550, rather than having a smaller number of students get $11,000,” Duncan said.
Even larger cuts to the Pell Grant program were included in proposed legislation put forth Friday by Republicans of the House of Representatives to fund the rest of the government’s 2011 operation. Their legislation would decrease the maximum grant to $4,705—a $845 difference from its current level.
Senior Natalie Young said the Republicans’ proposed cuts are “unreal.”
“I think it’s ridiculous and not well-thought,” Young said. “They all talk about us being the future, but they want to cut what’s helping us to finish our education.”
Duncan said both parties need to get on the same page and make good decisions for the country.
“We want to work with everybody, including House Republicans,” Duncan said. “But, we have to make sure we’re putting our children and country in the right place. Cuts in the wrong direction don’t take us there.”
Barnes said the country must begin to function within its means to ensure a fruitful financial future.
“Right now, that means we’ve got to tighten our belts,” Barnes said. “We want to make sure that those who want to go to school are able to go to school, but at the same time, we have to make room for those investments. Education is an area the president believes is critical.”
“This is an ongoing commitment from our agency to hold ourselves accountable,” he said.
The budget would eliminate programs such as the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership Program and the Byrd Honors Scholarships.
However, the budget will continue to fund the Perkins Loan and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant programs.
The administration is investing $150 million in a new initiative much like “Race to the Top” that would be for colleges and universities around the country.
“A First in the World” was created to increase college access and completion and improve educational productivity, according to the White House. The administration said the initiative was created in hopes of restoring America’s international leadership in the number of students graduating college.
In addition to the competitive grants, Duncan said the budget will also provide $50 million in 2012 and a total of $1.3 billion over five years in performance-based funding to higher education institutions demonstrating success in enrolling and graduating “high-need” students and enabling them to enter successful employment upon graduation.
“President Obama firmly believes to win the future, we must win the education race,” Duncan said.
The budget also puts emphasis on effectively training students going into the STEM categories—science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The president has set a goal of preparing 100,000 STEM teachers over the next decade, and recruiting 10,000 STEM teachers over the next two years.
The budget would include $80 million to expand effective models of teacher preparation in those areas.
“We’ve had a shortage of math and teachers in this country for a couple of decades now,” Duncan said. “We want to put everything on the table and make sure our students are taught by someone well. We want to invest in schools that are producing great STEM teachers. We think if we can do this well, the benefits for our children, our country, would be great.”
Freshman Joshua Wilson said he’s glad to hear about the funding in the STEM categories.
“I think it’s great,” Wilson said. “I’m not going into teaching, but I know plenty of people that are. More funding should go to those areas.”
Duncan said there’s no question these are some of the toughest economic times the United States has ever faced.
“We’re making some tough cuts,” Duncan said. “You have to be very strategic about every dollar you’re spending. We’re asking everyone to become more productive, more efficient. We want folks to do everything they can to protect learning in the classroom.”
