Update on the Federal Budget process for Financial Aid
Here is an update to where things stand on the Federal Budget end. This also updates you all as to the status of the Perkins Loan action which I know many of you participated in previously (and I thank you for your help there).
This note comes to you via NASFAA (the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators) of which I am a member. There also is a call to action in this post and I would kindly ask your participation in letting your Congressperson know that you care about the issue of Federal funding of financial aid by acting on this update. (note: The update is written to financial aid administrators and I have not changed or modified it, so some of the language may not apply to you as a student or a parent of a student).
The following letter from NASFAA President Dallas Martin is an urgent request for Association Members to contact their congressional representatives in an effort to prevent appropriations cuts and program eliminations during in the Fiscal Year 2006 appropriations process.
May 26, 2005
Dear NASFAA Member:
I am writing with an urgent request that you immediately contact your two U.S. Senators and member of the House of Representatives. The FY 2006 Appropriations bill is starting to move through the legislative process and we need your help to preserve a $100 increase in the Pell Grant maximum award and to prevent cuts or the outright elimination of several Title IV federal student assistance programs.
From our Web site reports, you know the FY 2006 Congressional Budget Resolution made one particularly positive step in a tight budget year: it provided enough funding for a $100 increase in the Pell Grant maximum award for FY 2006 (the 2006-07 award year). However, the Budget Resolution also accepted the overall figure of $843 billion for discretionary spending that was proposed by the Bush Administration. This level is 1% below last year's levels, which could lead to student aid cuts in appropriations bills.
In many respects, a Budget Resolution is not self-enforcing. The House and Senate Appropriations Committee must translate funding provided in a Budget Resolution into subcommittee allocations. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, and Education and related agencies has received its allocation, which is slightly more than the President's request, but less than last year's bill. From higher education association lobbying activities that NASFAA participates in, we know that the $100 increase in the Pell Grant maximum award is in serious danger during the subcommittee's legislative markup action, which is expected to take place June 8 or 9.
As unfortunate as this is, we further understand that due to the tight Budget Resolution that translated into this subcommittee's allocation, it is entirely possible that the Appropriations Committee and subcommittee will adopt many of President Bush's budget recommendations calling for elimination of Title IV programs. Those program eliminations include the following programs: Perkins Loans (both FCC and loan cancellations), Leveraging Education Assistance Program (LEAP), Byrd Honors Scholarships, Thurgood Marshal Legal Educational Opportunity Program, GEAR-UP, and the TRIO Talent Search and Upward Bound programs.
I am asking you to write a letter and send it by fax or e-mail (but not by postal mail: see below for the reason) to your member of the House of Representatives (or several members from your state if your school has students from their districts) asking:
- That the $100 increase in the Pell Grant maximum award to $4,150 (as included in the Budget Resolution) be carried out in the FY 2006 Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations bill, AND
- That the higher education student assistance programs slated for elimination in the President's Budget Request be restored.
Send a copy of your communication to your member or members of the House and to any member from your state who serves on the House Appropriations Committee (and, especially, members of the subcommittee of jurisdiction, which is the Labor, HHS, Education subcommittee. If your state does not have such an individual serving on either of these committees, then a copy of your communication should go to the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.); subcommittee Chairman Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio); and the Ranking Minority Member on both the full House Appropriations Committee and the subcommittee, Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.).
Finally, after determining by using the hyperlinks in the previous paragraph that your House member does not serve on the Appropriation Committee or subcommittee, please remember to ask in your letter that the member contact the Chairman and other Appropriations Committee members asking them to provide the Pell Grant increase and not cut or eliminate student aid programs.
Please send your letters ASAP, but no later than June 7. We are asking you to fax or e-mail your letter rather than using the Postal Service because a mailed letter will not be received in time. Delays in the delivery of postal mail of up to three weeks are caused by Congress's mail security system.
NASFAA is doing all we can do and we need your help if we are going to turn this around. I have seen the membership of NASFAA and the other higher education organizations respond at critical times in the legislative process and make a difference that helps our students, schools, and, ultimately, our nation. This is a critical time; please contact Congress now!
Sincerely,
Dallas Martin
NASFAA President