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S&B Editorial

Students must fight cuts in federal grants

Since the millennium, cutbacks in state-guaranteed financial aid have taken their place alongside turkey, yams and apple pie as Thanksgiving staples for Grinnell College. While state legislators have done their part to make things different this year, federal lawmakers continue to be stingy with financial aid programs.

We students know all too well the value (and cost) of higher education, but many members of Congress seem to view colleges and universities as cash cows to raid for bridges to nowhere and other wasteful pork. Students should make their voices heard on this issue and demand that legislators in Iowa and Washington D.C. give higher education the funding it deserves.

With an economic recession, and subsequent losses in state revenue, Iowa has cut financial aid programs, such as the Iowa Tuition Grant (ITG), for the past few years. ITG provides Iowa residents who go to college in-state with a maximum grant of $3,900 if they demonstrate financial need. Currently, over 50 Grinnell students receive a combined total of over $204,000 from the program.

In past years, the legislature in Des Moines has made cuts for the program in the middle of the academic year. Because it pledges to fulfill 100 percent of demonstrated student need, the college has to fill the gap when this happens. This saps money from other useful programs, creates budget shortfalls and helps place upward pressure on tuition rates for all Grinnellians.

This year, with the economy starting to heat up and tax revenues spiking, Iowa lawmakers did the right thing and refused to cut the ITG. But its future is by no means safe. As politically active citizens, students need to go one step further and tell the legislature about the damage that skyrocketing tuition is causing to our futures.

If tuition does rise again, students will have a difficult time getting financial help from the federal government. Nearly one-third of all American students receive need-based federal Pell grants, which offer a maximum reward of $4,050. From 1995-2001, this cap rose by 75 percent. Since then, it has remained stagnant.

Last week, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin voted to raise the cap by $200, but a slim majority of Republicans, including Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, defeated the proposal. The news made few headlines, but the voice of students and parents was visibly absent from the whole process.

If we have a responsibility to speak out on issues of social justice, peace and equality, then we also have an obligation to take a stand on this issue. Tuition hikes and aid cuts strike very close to home, and the government isn’t going to take steps to improve the situation unless we, the people who are affected by current policies, make ourselves heard.

Fiscal responsibility is necessary and long-overdue in Washington, but there are better ways to balance the budget than mortgaging our country’s future.

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