Increased Pell Grants don’t spell tuition relief

-- Patty Gavnik

Senator Coleman, bless your little heart. And bless your proposed little $450 increase in the Pell Grant to make education accessible to low- and middle-income students. Unfortunately, a little Pell Grant increase will not solve the huge tuition crisis experienced by Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) students who have been hit with a 60-percent increase in tuition in the past four years alone.

Pell Grants are the nation’s primary college financial aid program for low-income students, but this program has progressively covered fewer and fewer real costs since it began in the 1970s. The Detroit News reported on detnews.com, “In 1977, the maximum Pell Grant paid for 77 percent of the cost of tuition, room and board at a public, four-year institution. Today, it covers 41 percent, on average. And despite tuition increases of up to 40 percent at some universities, the maximum grant award has remained frozen since 2002.” About 90 percent of Pell Grant recipients now graduate with an average debt of nearly $17,000.

Although Pell Grants are designed to assist low-income students, a report from the Cato Institute, a Washington, DC, think tank, indicates that increased Pell Grants may actually make college more expensive. Most higher education institutions, both private and public, see an increase in federal aid as a green light to increase tuition across the board because low-income students will be more capable of paying for higher tuition. Gary Wolfram writes in “Making College More Expensive: The Unintended Consequences of Federal Tuition Aid,” “Private four-year colleges increased listed tuition prices by more than two dollars for each dollar increase in Pell Grants, and public four-year colleges increased their listed tuition by 97 cents for every dollar increase.”

Enrollment at MnSCU schools has declined for the first time in six years and Chancellor James H. McCormick says, “Students are telling us they have had to postpone their education because they just can’t afford it. They are taking second or third jobs to be able to pay the tuition. And they are going into debt.” In 2003, MnSCU students borrowed $317 million, more than twice the amount they borrowed in 1995.

What all these reports, statistics and theories boil down to is that a slight increase in Pell Grants and other forms of financial aid is unlikely to make tuition more affordable for students with the most need. And middle-income students, those who don’t qualify for aid or come from privileged families, bear the brutal brunt of increasing tuition costs.

As students from across the state march at the Capitol, hold press conferences, and petition legislators in a variety of other ways, these lawmakers have turned the tables and begun asking students where the money to fund a tuition freeze would come from. Brad Krasaway, state chair of Minnesota State University Student Association says, “Students shouldn’t be inundated with questions. It is the responsibility of the elected representatives in this state to decide how to pay for the things that are important to the citizens of the state, such as higher education.”

During his State of the Union address, President Bush said, “We will make it easier for Americans to afford a college education by increasing the size of Pell Grants.” The intent of this plan is admirable, but its effectiveness is questionable. Senator Coleman, if you really want to help students, consider this: The best form of financial aid is affordable tuition.

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