Bush Budget Will Propose a Recall of Federal Funds From Perkins Loan. . .

The Bush administration's budget for 2006, due out on Monday, could mean the end of the Perkins loan program, college lobbyists predicted today.

While details of the president's proposals are not yet available, higher-education advocates said that the president would ask Congress to recall the federal share of institutions' revolving loan funds. The funds, which are made up of federal "capital contributions," institutional matches, and repaid Perkins loans, are used to make new loans to students from low-income and middle-income families.

Colleges made $1.263-billion in loans to 673,000 borrowers through the Perkins program in 2004. The recall of the federal share, which would be phased in, would mean that "there would be no money to lend out," said Thomas E. Schmidt, associate director of the office of student finance at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, which awarded $6.4-million in Perkins loans to 3,300 students last year. "We would have nothing to give to our students."

Mr. Schmidt said many of the Perkins recipients at his institution had already "maxed out" on federally guaranteed student loans, and had been turned down for private loans because they had not built up credit histories.

http://chronicle.com/free/2005/02/2005020407n.htm

Free access to article on subscription only website

Note Perkins money to be shifted to provide $500 increase in Pell Grants

...you made there.

Perkins loans provide money to low and low-middle income students.

If Perkins loans are nixed, students with fewer resources will be unable to attend college.

If college isn't an option after high school, you're more likely to consider the military.

What a sick way to increase the military numbers--without a draft and in such a way that leaves the rich and privileged out of the scheme.

This is just so sick.

* doesn't want poor and middle class kids to be able to afford college. No college? Don't worry. Join the military.

the money is to be shifted to Pell's, so we need to know who uses Perkin's loans as opposed to getting a Pell, which is FREE money. I have to think it may be those who are not low enough in income, but not high enough to finance it themselves -- the middle class????

I attended for four years and received a B.S. in Civil Engineering. My parents never supported me. I was never eligible.

Staunchly middle class at the time.

Yes, most middle class kids can't get Pell's -- you need to be low income.

But Perkins aren't necessarily available to all low income students. In financial aid, it's a fine line between low and middle class. I got one Perkins during my four years of college, at a time when only one of my parents was employed, they had filed bankruptcy, and my family was occasionally obtaining nonperishables at a food bank.

Unsub and sub.

I never qualified for the Pell grants, even though my parents didn't support me and we have five kids in our family.

I worked my way through undergrad and vet school and I never would have made it without the help of the Perkins loan program. I know lots and lots of people who tried to work their way through school and most of them dropped out of school because it was just too hard.

I know that I work harder and am capable of more than most people are and I just barely made it.People shouldn't be expected to try to do what I did - much less try to do it with less than I had.

It's not effective for a society to throw away the talent and promise of all these people. It's going to mean the end of our prosperity as a nation.

it is too bad because this is going to get a lot worse in all areas

trickle down effect. I will be interested in seeing how my university responds to this. I am a professor and am interested to see how this impacts annual enrollment figures.
Once again, what a load of shite!

people may start moving towards community colleges and junior colleges.

go to community and junior colleges need loans just as badly as those who attend the other institutions so this is a major faux pas and will probably be retracted once it becomes more known. Watch the Chronicle on this one it will be messy.

is going up, also, although it is still about half that of the university. Nothing at all wrong with getting the first two years in your community -- better for everyone all the way around -- parents. kids, community, state. I am a BIG believer in community colleges --we have doctors, and lawyers, and dentists, and engineers which started out there. To me, doing it any other way is foolish.

Our students get the kind of individual attention that they would never receive in a place where classes have hundreds of students, our faculty have the same quality of credentials as those in the four years, and our graduates do better in the state's four-years than those who started at those same colleges as freshmen.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with going to a community college.

In smaller areas, you have to take a bunch of idiot courses because the required courses don't always come up when you need them. So you end up with 2-3 required and fill in order to get your grant or loan money. I know, my daughter just went through this. Then, when she finally got ready to apply to nursing school, they told her there was a waiting list of at least 3 years. Two years, $5,000 of loans, for nothing. Our entire education system is screwed up.

for our nursing program, also, but it only started in the last three years. Ours is not first come, but based on merit, so you have to have those grades in the pre-requisites. I understand some of what you are talking about with classes which fill very fast, but even when I was in college -- eons ago -- that could happen. One learned to register on the first day, and get there early. With computers, things may be different today, however. BTW, our cc is the smallest in the state.

This year my community college is "encouraging" professors to do their courses via distance ed for half of the class sessions because there just isn't enough room on campus. Many of our students don't have computers at home, so they then have to tie up campus computer labs to attend these classes. And many of them cannot deal with the technology -- we have a lot of immigrants and low-income folks who just haven't had enough computer experience to deal with a complicated software program.

And the infrastructure isn't here at the college. The libraries at the biggest campuses can't be open on Sundays because there just isn't enough staff. The smaller campuses can only be open for perhaps 50 hours a week for the same reason -- there's only two or three staff members. Same for testing and tutoring centers. For registration and financial aid, they're pushing students to use the Internet-based system, which was purchased not on its technological merits but because of someone's campaign contribution. As an example of how useful this system is: For two weeks in December, students were unable to pay using credit card because of some system glitch, but then the system would suddenly come back up and cancel their class schedules because they hadn't paid. And many of these students aren't technologically savvy enough to figure out even how to sign up for classes.

Meanwhile, our esteemed college administration has all these great plans for increasing enrollment. Completely blind are they.

:eyes:

The number of institutions and associated individuals with Perkins will inundate their elected reps on this one not too mention the higher ed lobbying organizations. This can be easily spun for the public as heartless cut of educational opportunity. There is a no win in this for the * administration. I predict a black eye for the administration on this one.

Big Whoop-de-do. I spent nearly $40,000 sending my daughter to a public university for four years. If she had qualified for a Pell, which she didn't since we were slightly above the cut-off line, this would have been worth a whole $400 if we qualified for the maximum benefit.

Five years later and I am looking forward to another five years of paying off the parent's loans. At least she graduated.

I hope your daughter appreciates what you did for her. (Said by someone who is still paying for her own student loans because her parents did not offer.)

it could be another 500 on the grant every year. I went through college in the day when there was no Pell grant -- I was low income from a single parent household. You cobbled together little 100 scholarships for which you qualified, took government guaranteed loans and worked. What ever happened to work? Use the community college for your first two years, live at home, work, save during that time, and then get a guaranteed loan for the two remainder years. I know I am an old codger, but there were/are good things about having to do it yourself -- it builds character. I see an awful lot of taking things for granted in the younger generation, and that is not good for society. I have a nephew whose father still pays his car insurance and he is 30!!!! Give me a break!

Finished high school working (not a 40 hour week) the last year and helping to pay for board and room. It isn't impossible today. Didn't have car and walked to school, to work, back to school, back to work and home. Missed a lot of extras at school but liked growing up and being treated as a responsible adult at 16. Kids should have the opportunity, and be encouraged, to endeavor to be more as young as possible. They can grow into responsible adults quite young and do in most countries of the world.

For me, anyway. I worked my last year of high school too, as much as possible because my parents had moved out of state. I had opted to stay behind and finish my senior year. I crashed with friends where possible, kept my car (insured of course) and worked as a cashier at a grocery store.

When I entered college, I found that working the previous year counted against me for much of the different types of student aid. Because I moved from a high-cost/high-wage area (Alaska) to a low-cost/reasonable-wage area (Oregon), the reality of what I made the previous year was rather distorted. The aid that they award is based on the previous year's income.

I ended up having to work full time in college (engineering degree) in order to offset the cost of college (difference between student loans and what I could make while working).

I was fortunate to finish, even if it meant taking out student loans.

I think it is wonderful when parents pay for part of their children's education. I certainly am not bitter at my parents for not doing so, and I certainly did not expect them to help me. I was aware the help wasn't there.

When one is faced with the demands of one's course of study and a full time job on top of that, it becomes very difficult to finish school. I cannot imagine adding a family on top of that burden, although many of my classmates did just that.

Even though I went to meetings my son's highschool held there was way to much I didn't learn there.

My son had worked in high school too but to pay for school sponsored trips to Europe and Washington and so on. It turns out 70% of what a student earns in a prior year counts against them...and so does 35% of their savings. If you saved all your earnings you's still owe 5%. The more you work, the worse your chances of getting financial aid.

On the other hand I had about 10K saved and they gave me credit on my portion for having so little.

This part is important for any lower middle class parents out their. Encourage your kids to go to a larger more expensive state university. My son applied to a few schools, including University of Michigan. He got a delayed acceptance there and in the meantime had chosen a smaller college, thinking it would save money.

I was a single parent. That school wrote and said our need was $XXX, but sorry, all they offered was his Competitive Scholarship and high interest student loans. He could not even get work study (which doesn't count against the next years aid). The competitive one would have been anywhere in the state and he also had a couple odd one year ones due to a dedicated girlfriend searching the bases.

He transferred to U of M as a sophomore...and were we surprised to see the package. Besides his scholarship he got a big grant, low interest loans and work study. Instead of me paying hundreds a month I paid nothing and gained snob appeal! (People are overly impressed when you give the "right" answer to their asking where your kid goes)
They say it's because they have more money and my income was comparatively much lower to other families, while at the smaller school there were more low income families.

Another tip...he took 18 to 20 semester credit hours each time at the smaller university. He learned the school actually has a policy that no matter how many credits you take you only pay for 15. It isn't posted or advertised, you have to ask. It wasn't retroactive. It is always worth asking.

When I went to school the MI competitive scholarship was $1200 and covered all my tuition and books. 18 years later he went and it was still the same amount but didn't come close to covering anything. I think I was determined to help him because he accidently helped me. I got pregnant still in high school and when the financial aid guy found out he did back flips finding enough that I could stiill go and not have to work...and having a child qualified me as an independent student. (That is pretty far to go for cheap college I guess)

People should also consider the College Level Examination Program. (CLEP) I didn't suggest it to my son because I didn't think they were still around, but they are. I started college as a sophomore due to them...and have your kids take them in areas they don't feel too sure of too. 6 of the 30 credits I got were in classes I had never even taken (which is why I figured the tests were not too valid and no longer used)

I am an old codger too, but these are not your baby boomer college debts. The costs have gone crazy and in this employment market a degree does not assure decent earnings. Young grads start out with way too much on their backs.

Since this is already long let me add one more gripe. Under Bush a drug possession conviction means losing eligibility for a pell grant. Surely none of us could have ever been in possession of pot ot anything, horrors! Whoever heard of a teenager experimenting with drugs. Of course they don't deserve college. You can be president, just no college.

Or less. To pay for at least $4,000 a year tuition and books. Go ahead and calculate full time in summer. You do the math. It doesn't really add up anymore. Especially for kids in rural areas.

$3.50 an hour.

We had 6 girls renting a 3 bedroom house together. I ate stale generic poptarts for months. I restricted my food budget to $10 a week. I had one pair of jeans. I cut my own hair. I didn't buy anything I didn't absolutely need.

I did it, but most people just can't do that. Maybe in your day and age, jobs for students paid relatively better than they do today and in the recent past , have you thought of that? Maybe rent's gone up. Not everyone can live at home - not every home is a safe environment, either.

I don't know anyone who did what I did and succeeded. It's not fair to expect studnets to do this. It doesn't build character, it makes promising students give up and drop out.And society loses.

This is a LOAN Program that Bush is proposing to cut - so much for your guaranteed loans. The Stafford loans make you pay a huge fee to the bank to ensure you won't default on them, which is wrong, since the government is already providing a guarantee to the bank.

Students learn better and succeed more when they don't have to work and starve in order to make it through school.

one cut after another! Doesn't he know that not everyone has money? Doesn't he have any brains whatsoever???

could care less. If were not born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you are screwed.

I can't stand this so called man.

That's what it's all about for the Republicans.

even repugs will be scratching their sore butts and wondering how it happened to them without vaseline ....it won't just be us dems screaming in pain ...

Student loans sap our national will to torture, and they distract young people who might otherwise become productive interrogators in the armed forces.

War first, edumacashun second.

:crazy:

One more hit for the working class of America while the riches of all continue to get their big tax breaks, that side of the political spectrum are real a** holes.

:kick:

do you recall the type of student who gets a Perkins loan -- is it those who also get Pell's -- or are they middle income kids who don't qualify for Pell's -- and how are they better, or not, than guaranteed loans, assuming those things still exist.

Her father is disabled. He survived an aneurysm, and is much like a recovering stroke patient. He cannot work.

Her mother has an unskilled, non-union factory job. She probably makes under $25,000 a year.

We don't qualify. We are about median income. My daughter has Perkins loans. There are subsidized and unsubsidized types. She has both. The interest on the unsubsidized loans accrues while she goes to college. Even if she gets a deferment for grad school or another reason, the interest keeps right on growing.

We helped all three of our children as much as possible. They all got some scholarship money, too. But, they will still have substantial loan payments for the next twenty-five years.

My son had a Perkins grant his freshman year. After that, we made too much money, and he could not get those.

would he have been eligible for a Perkin's loan? which would kind of signify that they are for middle income?

It has a lower interest rate than Staffords, which is why it is preferable. But again, it's only for faily low income people.

I know...I have one. I accrued almost $2k in one year!!!! (of interest).

But you do what you got to do to educate yourself...

Instead he froze for the past three years, and now he is telling everyone is is going to "Raise" it.... Tell me I'm special, come on, tell me how good I am to you...

From: Committee on Education and the Workforce http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/pellgrantsummary.html

BUSH RECORD ON PELL GRANTS:
Making Students Pay More for College

February 2, 2004
Bush Freezes Federal College Scholarship, or Pell Grant
"Just as college tuition is rising and the buying power of grants continues to erode, President Bush has frozen the maximum Pell Grant at $4,050 in his FY 2005 education budget. This is the 3rd year in a row that Bush has frozen or cut the maximum Pell Grant. {emphasis mine}

Despite Bush’s protests that restoring the buying power of the Pell Grant won’t stop rising college costs, he continues to ignore the tuition problem. Not only has he failed to address rising college tuition, but his budget makes college even more expensive by freezing or cutting student aid and taxing students."

Bush Breaks his Promise to Increase Maximum Pell Grant to $5,100
"While campaigning in 2000, President Bush, pledged to make college more affordable and accessible by increasing the maximum Pell Grant for college freshman to $5,100.

Not only has President Bush broken his promise to increase the maximum Pell award to $5,100, but he’s actually frozen or cut the maximum Pell grant for the past three years."


****

Collective amnesia of the media again:

From the Original Poster's Article: http://chronicle.com/free/2005/02/2005020407n.htm

<snip>
"President Bush announced last month that he would seek to raise the maximum Pell Grant by $500, to $4,550, over the next five years and to eliminate the shortfall by making changes in the federal guaranteed-student-loan program (The Chronicle, January 17). In addition to pulling out of the Perkins program, Mr. Bush will propose paying for his Pell Grant plan by reducing some subsidies that the government provides banks and other types of lenders for making low-interest loans available to students."
<snip>


edit: spelling

four years (8 years) drives me positively batty.

What happened to investigative journalism? Doesn't anyone in the media have a memory anymore?

I know nothing about politics (ok, so I'm trying to step up my knowledge quickly), but I remembered * said something about Pells in 2000. So when I heard him say, with that self-congratulating smirk of his that he was Raising Pells this year...something just went off in my head. Wish I could take a sabatical from my day job to do some investigating myself.... but kinda need the check to keep a roof over my head. *sigh*

is there are folks like you who can help us jog that memory. Many will remember this or that as it impacts them, but few of us have a head for so much information, so thanks again.

I AM FUCKED if this is true :cry: :cry:
Folks, seriously- this may mean the end of college for me and a LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE.
WARRRRAAAA!!

yes this is how * will get his army for iran /syria war..welcome to the project for the new american century!!

my feeling is ..pull it from the kids who supported this regime first!!

and then let them.." be all that they can be"..the young republicans should have their money pulled first ..and boots to ground first!!

yes lots of kids came out to vote this time..but more did not come out to vote..the youth is now getting a very valuable lesson in being involved..i dont mean kids here who are involved..
but in our generation it took the draft to get the kids riled up...maybe this will get your juices boiling!

typing on a computer wont change things...not fast enough or drastic enough..you need to organize and get on the streets!

we just had a protest here in fla against * and the majority of protestors were senior citizens or those in their 50's ..and it was near a college..hardly any college kids came and joined...well its your generation that will be screwed..we can fight for you..but you need to fight too!!

we cannot afford it w/o getting loans and the pell grant. I don't know what I'm going to do.

fund many, many Technical College programs. They are the number one funder for tech. college programs that are focused on incarcerated clients, displaced homemakers, etc. I write grants that allow us to provide Adult Basic Education in my neighborhood & at all statewide conferences the Perkins funded folks far outnumber the rest of us. So, I wonder if this cuts into his "expansion" of tech. college programs????

peace

I know I heard him say that! I guess I misunderstood what he meant.

Once we are through outsourcing all the jobs that can be shipped out and importing cheap labor to do the rest of them, we will not need broad access to higher education. We will all be fieldhands on the global plantation.

Besides, ignorant people are much easier to manipulate.

Never that, while he slashes education and health care to bare bones.

Most of them must need loans too. Well...second thought. They probably don't go to college.

education outwit our witless pResident! Pure Afghan heroine is the key! The drug pushers of today are the Bush klan of tomorrow! Opportunity knocks- * is just inspiring them...

Divesting in eductation to create a larger population of ignorant, easily manipulated voters, consumers and workers for corporate America.

I am furious!! I am a full time college student, this is how I am able to go to school. What in the hell does * expect us to do? He wants to cut funding for social programs, wants to cut Education, What next? Is this some kind of a sick plot to force people like me into the military?

Well, no loans for you, guess you need to join up and fight a loosing battle, maybe if you get back in one piece we will help you out..

MAD, MAD, MAD!!!

*

I really do.