WASHINGTON — In a 2012 budget blueprint that administration officials portrayed as austere and Republicans derided as profligate, President Obama kept his promise to privilege spending on education and research — though not without some potential pain for programs important to colleges and students.
By Carolyn Kaster, AP
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, left, President Obama and Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew speak at a Parkville, Md., middle school on Monday.
EnlargeCloseBy Carolyn Kaster, AP
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, left, President Obama and Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew speak at a Parkville, Md., middle school on Monday.
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In many of its priorities and emphases, the president's proposed budget for 2012 stood in stark contrast to legislation put forward by House Republicans on Friday to fund the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year, which ends in September. While the GOP measure would slash the maximum Pell Grant by $845, end funding for several other student aid programs (as well as the AmeriCorps national service program), and slice billions of dollars from agencies that support academic research, the Obama budget for 2012 keeps those and other programs largely intact.
That doesn't mean, however, that the Obama budget would be pain-free for colleges and students. Given the enormous growth of the Pell Grant Program in the last two years, for instance, the program now faces a $20 billion deficit by the end of 2012, and the administration had to make "tough choices" to sustain the maximum grant at $5,550, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a call with reporters Monday.
The department's 2012 budget calls for ending a three-year experiment that allows students to qualify for two Pell Grants in a calendar year, to allow them to attend college year-round, and for eliminating the subsidy in which the government pays the interest on student loans for graduate students while they are in school. (The subsidy for undergraduate students would remain in place.)
"These are painful cuts, make no mistake about it," Duncan said.
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Higher education leaders and advocates for students typically howl in protest when political leaders of any party or political persuasion threaten programs dear to them, and they did not hide their disappointment with the president's proposed cuts Monday. "It is regrettable that the administration is proposing to maintain Pell by making cuts to other student aid programs that provide much needed funds to students," said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
for the rest of the story go to: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-02-15-pell-grants-budget_N.htm#
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