Call to Action: Tell Congress to Protect Student Aid Funding
Thank you for your willingness to participate in NASFAA's advocacy campaign to protect student aid funding! This page features resources to assist you in your outreach, including:
- Instructions on how to contact your representative
- A sample letter that can be customized with your information and used when you reach out to your representative
- Additional talking points that can be used for background as you engage in conversations with lawmakers
Background
On June 26, the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) Appropriations Subcommittee released its budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2025. The House Appropriations Committee on July 10 marked up and advanced the bill, which now heads to the House floor. The bill calls for significant cuts to federal student aid programs that support millions of students across the nation. The proposal called for:
- Decreasing funding for the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program by 50%
- Decreasing funding for the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) program by 50%
- Flat-funding the maximum Pell Grant for the 2025-26 award year
- Decreasing funding for the Office of Federal Student Aid to $1.5 billion (a 26% cut)
- An overall reduction of 13% in funding for the Department of Education (ED)
As Congress considers FY 2025 appropriations, it is critical that your representative hears from you about how these cuts will impact your students.
How to Contact your Representative
If you're not sure who your representative is, visit the House of Representatives search page. This page also includes House office phone numbers and links to contact each representative via email.
Sample Letter Advocating to Protect Student Aid Funding in FY 2025 Appropriations Bill
NASFAA has developed a sample letter that you may wish to use to encourage your representative to support funding for crucial student aid programs in the 2025 appropriations bills.
We encourage you to customize this letter by including the number of recipients and total amount of funding awarded in your district for each program. You can find data by selecting your state, then "2023 - 2024 By Congressional Districts."
View Federal Student Aid Data in your Congressional District
Talking Points Advocating to Protect Federal Student Aid in FY 2025 Appropriations
- The bill calls for $72 billion to the Department of Education (ED), a 13% reduction from the final fiscal 2024 enacted level.
- The bill keeps the maximum Pell Grant award at $7,395 for 2025-26, the second time in a row that the maximum Pell Grant would not see an increase.
- The budget request cuts funding for both Federal Work-Study (FWS) and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG) in half.
- The FWS program, which provides $1.2 billion to 659,000 students, would now be funded at $615 million.
- The FSEOG program, which provides $910 million to almost 1.7 million students, would now be funded at $455 million.
We understand that some NASFAA members are not able to participate in our advocacy efforts for a number of reasons, including institutional policies around employee involvement in direct advocacy. We encourage you to connect with the office at your institution that handles government relations to determine if you are able to help with this effort.
Publication Date: 7/22/2024