The Budget Control Act of 2011, signed into law in Aug. 2011, creates several threats to student aid funding (claims to protect the maximum Pell Grant award amount by ending Stafford subsidized loans for graduate/professional students and repayment incentives (interest rate reductions for on-time payers, for example) for all federal loans- Stafford, Perkins, PLUS.

The bill outcomes will create further financial obstacles for students to continue enrollment at higher education institutions, pursue graduate degrees, and repay their educational debt. 

Read the full-text Budget Control Act of 2011 here: http://fxn.ws/p3TKgq

Join the New York Student Aid Alliance to protect NYS aid (TAP and state-based scholarships): http://nystudentaidalliance.org/

 

Two alternative amendments to this bill are currently proposed by the Senate and the House of Representatives. Our goal is to bring awareness to this issue and advocate to secure financial aid eligibility for the greatest amount of possible students.

9/22/11: The Senate Appropriations Committee's FY 2012 Labor-H spending bill would:

- Protect the maximum $5,550 Pell Grant for award year 2012-13.

- Eliminate the interest subsidy on undergraduate federal student loans during the six-month grace period.

-All other student aid programs, including the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), are reportedly funded at the same level as last year. Source: http://bit.ly/n771Qp

Audio webcast of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-H) Appropriations Subcommittee fiscal year (FY) 2012 spending bill: http://appropriations.senate.gov/sc-labor.cfm

 

 

9/29/11: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services and Education spending bill would:

-Cut $2.3 billion from the Federal Pell Grant program, but maintain the maximum $5,550 Pell Grant for award year 2012-13.

- Revoke Pell eligibility for students who attend school less than half-time.

-Decrease maximum Pell eligibility to students who currently report $31K in income on the FAFSA  and as a result, automatically receive maximum federal aid eligibility. This bill would reduce that figure to $15K, which is slightly above 2010-11 poverty guidelines for a household of 2, meaning that not many students would qualify for the $5,500 maximum Pell award.

- Eliminate Pell awards to students who receive 10% of the maximum award (currently, students who are eligible for 5% are given 10% of the maximum).

- Reinstate previously excluded forms of untaxed income, including additional tax credits claimed for tax purposes, welfare benefits, earned income credit claimed for tax purposes, credit from tax paid on special fuels, untaxed social security benefits, and foreign income exclusion. 

These changes will not only impact Pell, but a student's overall financial aid package because the greater one's Expected Family Contribution, the less overall need-based aid they are eligible to receive from federal, state, and institutional funds.

Source: http://bit.ly/pca7ep