NASFAA Mention: Trump Wants to Use Extra Pell Money for NASA. But That Surplus Is There for a Good Reason.
"The White House is asking Congress to divert nearly $4 billion in federal money meant for low-income students to finance other programs, including an increase for NASA space flights," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
"The money would come from an estimated $9-billion surplus in the Pell Grant program — funds that Congress has appropriated to be spent but that has not been used. The number of students who receive the grants, up to $6,000 a year, has fallen by more than two million since 2011, according to figures from the College Board, and spending on the program has dropped by about $12 billion.
... Pell could be made even more reliable if Congress were to include the program in its mandatory spending, as it does with other entitlements, such as Medicare and Medicaid, said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. 'As long as we fund this entitlement discretionarily, we’ll have surpluses and deficits,' he said."
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Publication Date: 5/14/2019