Aid at risk for California students receiving Pell Grants

Thousands of Bay Area students could soon face a new hurdle when it comes to paying for college deep cuts to federal financial aid Republican lawmakers in Washington D C are considering proposals to cap a few federal loans and dramatically limit Pell Grants which have for years served as a lifeline for low-income students More than California students rely on the Pell Grant which does not need to be repaid What is being proposed goes against pretty much all of the evidence about college affordability and college access noted Christopher Nellum executive director of the Oakland-based instruction research and advocacy group EdTrust-West We re bracing for fewer students enrolling in college in the state In particular the Bay Area given what the evidence tells us we ll see fewer students of color We re going to see fewer low-income students perhaps fewer parenting students While the exact local impact of the proposals is unclear leaders from the California State University University of California California Society Colleges and Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities wrote to Congress this week imploring lawmakers to reject cuts to the initiative and prioritize funding for students A bill passed by the Republican-led U S House would cap graduate pupil loans cut income-driven loan repayment options and eliminate schools aid if students earnings fall below a certain threshold The bill also includes deep cuts to the Pell Grant plan and makes part-time students ineligible for the funds The Senate was expected to vote on its own version of the bill which did not include changes to Pell Grant eligibility After that the House and Senate would need to negotiate a compromise to send to President Donald Trump s desk Trump has called for widespread cuts to mentoring spending Individually these policies are severely damaging the letter declared Collectively they represent an existential threat to this vital federal plan that serves half of all undergraduate students in California or of all Pell Grant recipients nationwide Nellum announced the proposed cuts are part of the Trump administration s larger attack on community learning I can t make sense of it given everything I ve seen over almost two decades of doing this work he explained I can t imagine a more legitimate financing than in teaching I don t know who this benefits The prospective changes come as California universities are still reeling from several other Trump administration policies including the cancellation of millions of dollars in research grants and a crackdown on diversity equity and inclusion programs In the present students who take at least credits are considered full-time students but under the House s proposal they would need to take credits a year to be considered full-time and receive the maximum Pell Grant which is a year Students who take fewer than credits a year would no longer be eligible for the funds Trump s proposed budget for the fiscal year would also decrease the maximum Pell Grant award to For countless California students the existing funding of Pell Grants is already insufficient to cover the costs of college Proposed cuts which would take effect this coming school year have sent them scrambling for scholarships or packing their schedules with additional classes to avoid dropping out or needing to take out aspirant loans Saidy Reyes a rising senior urban studies major at UC Berkeley transferred to Cal after completing two years at a public college A first-generation college participant from Marin County Reyes stated the maximum Pell Grant award was just enough to cover her coaching at district college but she still needed a part-time job to afford her basic necessities Now that I m at Berkeley the whole story is different Reyes explained I live on my own now and I feel like it s not enough And Berkeley is a really expensive place to live to begin with UC Berkeley scholar Saidy Reyes is photographed at UC Berkeley in Berkeley Calif on Friday June The federal leadership s proposed changes to Pell Grant eligibility could impact millions in financial aid for thousands of students in California leaving schools scrambling to find additional aid for students and causing concerns the changes could further exacerbate declining enrollment across the state Jose Carlos Fajardo Bay Area News Group For a new novice starting in the - school year Cal estimates the total cost of attendance including tuition living and personal expenses is Nellum of EdTrust-West revealed four in Bay Area students don t have enough savings to cover three months of their basic expenses We know the Pell Grant over the last three or four decades has already struggled to keep pace with the true cost of college Nellum explained So any cut to that effort for students who have financial limitations or are unable to pay for the true cost of college it s only going to make their situation worse Benjamin Diaz a rising political science junior at UC Santa Cruz commented that despite receiving the full Pell Grant amount in his freshman year he still had to pay around out-of-pocket each quarter As a full-time aspirant Diaz disclosed he wouldn t be affected by the House-proposed eligibility cuts but he worries about the anticipated decrease to the maximum award I possibly won t be able to afford to pay for college and attend Diaz commented The issue is particularly pressing in the UC system which reported it enrolled a higher percentage of Pell Grant recipients among all its undergraduate students than any other top research university in the country for the - school year the majority of new evidence available UC Berkeley stated that under the proposed changes to Pell Grant eligibility about of the university s recipients would be reclassified as part-time and see their awards reduced The school stated it will explore increased fundraising efforts for aspirant aid to help offset any expected federal reductions San Jose State revealed about of its students would receive reduced awards The school doesn t project a decline in enrollment but is closely monitoring the impact on working and parenting students District colleges which serve multiple part-time students would be hit even harder De Anza College in Cupertino commented of its Pell recipients would lose their entire awards under the proposed changes We assume that if students are awarded less federal novice aid particular of them will decide not to attend or take fewer classes per term San Jose City College where nearly a quarter of students receive Pell Grants explained We have seen whenever you decrease commitment in higher mentoring and in financial aid the students that are bulk impacted are those from the lowest-income backgrounds announced Michele Zampini senior director of college affordability at The Institute for College Access and Success a higher teaching nonprofit with an office in Oakland Activists with the Sunrise Movement sit outside the U S Department of Teaching on March in Washington DC U S President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at dissolving the Training Department Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared the order would not be fully shut it down but instead would continue to administer critical functions such as candidate loans and Pell Grants Photo by Anna Moneymaker Getty Images Related Articles Stanford University announces million in budget cuts realizable layoffs amid federal strategy shifts Muslim civil rights group says UC Irvine is a hostile campus Trump administration to investigate University of California s hiring practices College graduates face toughest job region in more than a decade as hiring slows California congressman wants mental vitality tools in the pocket of every college trainee Stanford University which serves a relatively small number of Pell Grant recipients students out of undergraduates and already covers tuition for families making under noted the school will commit institutional funds to make up for lost federal funding Yamileth Maldonado a first-generation pupil and modern graduate of UC Berkeley declared she wouldn t have been able to complete school without receiving the full Pell Grant She stated it s already hard for lower-income students to take a minimum of credits each semester to receive financial aid while also working part-time participating in extracurricular programs and taking higher-level classes with increased workload My mental strength kind of plummeted a lot especially my first semester in my senior year just because I had no time to do anything for myself Maldonado disclosed If I had to get up to units because of Pell going up I really have no idea how I would ve survived that semester