College degrees are an increasingly class based commodity. Simultaneous increases in the costs of higher education and cuts in federal financial aid programs are making college unaffordable for all Americans not in high-income brackets.

Following the 2004 election, the Bush administration wasted no time making their stand on education clear. Congress’ first action on higher education since the election forces students from working families to pay more for college.

On November 20, Congress passed an omnibus spending bill for 2005, which includes funding for the Department of Education. The bill significantly reduces federal aid for higher education, forcing students from low-income families to either dig deeper into their pockets to pay for college or to give up on this part of their American dream.
The Federal Pell Grant Program is the largest federal aid program for college financial assistance. It provides grants according to a formula that shows a potential student’s need. Approximately 4.8 million students received Pell Grants this year. The new bill effectively cuts $270 million from the program.

Until now, applicants could use the amounts of state and local taxes paid in the formula to calculate their need. Bush’s modifications eliminate this provision, thereby increasing students’ household income. This jeopardizes their eligibility for Pell Grants. This change alone will cause 84,000 students currently receiving Pell Grants to be cut from the program entirely.

A careful analysis of this proposal confirms suspicious of an insidious anti-working class bias on the part of the Bush administration. Proponents of the plan insist that the neediest students will not be affected because they do not pay state and local taxes. This may be true – but who is affected? Tax paying working families. Under Bush’s plan, more working- class applicants will fail eligibility, forcing them to take out student loans or forego their aspirations for higher education.

Republican congressmen such as John Boehner from Ohio insist that the new budget does not actually cut Pell Grant financial aid. However, Democrats such as John Corzine (New Jersey) see through the plan. 'I don’t know how the Bush administration can call themselves compassionate when they are throwing students out of the opportunity to seek a college education. It is now clear to me that this was a backdoor attempt to cut funding from the Pell Grant program.' Perkins Loans have also been cut significantly. Perkins Loans are low-interest loans that have traditionally been made by colleges together with federal funds. New federal capital for Perkins Loans went from $100 million to zero. Colleges that provide Perkins loans will have to fund them from other sources or stop them altogether. For students, that leaves the option of getting loans from private institutions, which charge higher interest rates, or staying out of college.

The cuts do not stop here. The Bush administration plans to squeeze non-defense, non-homeland security domestic spending in next year’s budget, and education could be cut by $5 billion over the next five years.

These changes belie the Bush administration’s avowed policy that a good educational system is the best economic policy. The administration’s actions make it more difficult for people to go to college.

The new changes should not surprise anyone. Bush’s plans to make higher education the privy of an economic elite were made clear during his first administration. During 2003, tuition and fees increased in 49 of 50 states, threatening access to higher education for low-income students.

And Bush blatantly broke his 2000 campaign promise to raise the ceiling for Pell Grants to $5,100. The 2005 budget freezes Pell Grants at $4,100 for the third year in a row. This means that, since Pell Grants have not kept pace with the soaring cost of higher education, the students who qualify for them will have to supplement their Pell Grants with money from other sources.

The meaning of these actions for America’s future is frightening. Rising costs and less federal aid means that low-income Americans are being squeezed out of the higher education market. College will become the privy of the shrinking class of financially secure Americans whose incomes tie them closely to the financial goals of the elite business class. The new Pell Grant rules are a direct hit on tax paying, working Americans from lower income brackets.

Unless significant changes can be made in Congress, Americans can now look forward to three more years (beyond 2005) of such attacks. Too many people have recently shrugged their shoulders, and said 'oh well, four years isn’t forever.' Four years? Four years from now low-income students who would have been entering college in 2004 will have likely decided not to attend college. Four entire classes of potential graduating seniors will be from increasingly affluent family backgrounds. And four classes of working-class students will be accepting lower paying jobs because they cannot afford college. So much for their American dream.



--Anna Bates is a contributing editor of Political Affairs.