Federal Pell Grants: Government- Should be called Joke

by Angie Kirby
(Gretna, VA)

The government is encouraging, "stay in school, go to college and get a good education," but then when you need help and apply for it, then it gets FROZEN, so what do you suggest the kids do when parents cannot afford it all??? I wish the government would for once help people and stop making it harder for everyone.

ANSWER:

Unfortunately, the government cannot afford to send people to college, either. The 2011 federal budget acknowledges that by freezing Pell grant amounts to the 2010 levels and eliminating the two Pell grant awards in one year program.

Federal Pell grants are simply not enough to fully fund an education and provide living expenses during college. But then, they were never meant to do it all. When they began, it was taken for granted that they would just be the base of financial aid- there were supposed to be more layers added on to the basic Pell grant.

These layers were supposed to come from the other levels of government (state and local) and from the colleges themselves. Well states and localities are busy cutting every expense they can right now, because they cannot afford to even pay their workers. So public colleges (state universities and community colleges) are also getting their funding cut. Public colleges are raising tuition to make ends meet.

The only entities that could afford to give more aid at this time are private colleges. They enjoyed an 11.9% net return on their funds in 2010. But they have cut back on their no-loan programs and some schools are thinking about switching their grant aid to their own college school loans.

Students cannot depend on the federal government's Pell grant program to do it all.