Oops! Sorry Kids Obama Forgot to Tell College Students He Cut Pell Grants Before Ele

[francoHFW]

You can be sure of 5 things. He did much better than any Pub would, Pubs are behind any lack of funding, the PPM will lie endlessly about it, you dupes will swallow it all, and feel you've won something.

 

[AmyNation]

He's doubled funding. There is no lack of funding for pell grants.

 

[Lakhota]

Last I heard, Obama doubled Pell grants.

Sorta

PolitiFact Florida | Kal Penn thanks Obama for "doubling funding for the Pell Grant"

Yep.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Last I heard, Obama doubled Pell grants.

Sorta

PolitiFact Florida | Kal Penn thanks Obama for "doubling funding for the Pell Grant"

Yep.

Beginning July 1, thousands of college students will no longer be eligible for Pell Grants. The changes are a result of a a $1 trillion spending bill passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in December 2011 that funds the government through September 2012. The bill, which Obama signed, actually cut Pell Grants by $11 billion dollars over the next decade.

Obama’s claim he doubled Pell Grant funding is entirely false

President Barack Obama signed into law a $1 trillion bill to fund much of the government through Sept. 30.

The 1,200-page measure sets spending for 10 Cabinet departments including Defense, Education, Treasury, State, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and Labor.

The new law delays the new energy-efficiency standard for light bulbs, cuts Pell grants that help students from low-income families go to college, and calls for a 17 percent reduction in foreign aid administered through the State Department’s Agency for International Development.

Obama Signs $1T Bill to Fund Govt. Through Sept. - Bloomberg

How did he double Pell Grants if money was cut from Pell Grants?

Only the $36 billion dollar link in Amy's link works (and I have no idea where the Pell grant info is on that link); the $18 billion dollar link says 'page not found'.

 

[Jimmy_Jam]

Last I heard, Obama doubled Pell grants.

He did no such thing, nor has he cut them. I have been a college admissions counselor for 4 years, and PELL grant amounts have remained pretty stagnant during that time.

About the only thing that MAY have happened is that eligibility requirements may have adjusted. However, I have not seen any noticeable changes in what students get awarded in the last four years.

 

[daveman]

Last I heard, Obama doubled Pell grants.

He did no such thing, nor has he cut them. I have been a college admissions counselor for 4 years, and PELL grant amounts have remained pretty stagnant during that time.

About the only thing that MAY have happened is that eligibility requirements may have adjusted. However, I have not seen any noticeable changes in what students get awarded in the last four years.

And what's happened to tuition costs during that same time?

 

[Jimmy_Jam]

Last I heard, Obama doubled Pell grants.

He did no such thing, nor has he cut them. I have been a college admissions counselor for 4 years, and PELL grant amounts have remained pretty stagnant during that time.

About the only thing that MAY have happened is that eligibility requirements may have adjusted. However, I have not seen any noticeable changes in what students get awarded in the last four years.

And what's happened to tuition costs during that same time?

They've gone up. I'm not defending anybody, I'm just saying that distortions of what really goes on with PELL grants is pretty rampant. Most people have no idea how it works. I deal with potential students all the time, and unless they're experienced with the process, they usually have no idea.

 

[daveman]

He did no such thing, nor has he cut them. I have been a college admissions counselor for 4 years, and PELL grant amounts have remained pretty stagnant during that time.

About the only thing that MAY have happened is that eligibility requirements may have adjusted. However, I have not seen any noticeable changes in what students get awarded in the last four years.

And what's happened to tuition costs during that same time?

They've gone up. I'm not defending anybody, I'm just saying that distortions of what really goes on with PELL grants is pretty rampant. Most people have no idea how it works. I deal with potential students all the time, and unless they're experienced with the process, they usually have no idea.

Fair enough. Being a current part-time college student, I have more than a passing interest in the subject.

 

[Wehrwolfen]

Sorta

PolitiFact Florida | Kal Penn thanks Obama for "doubling funding for the Pell Grant"

Yep.

Beginning July 1, thousands of college students will no longer be eligible for Pell Grants. The changes are a result of a a $1 trillion spending bill passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in December 2011 that funds the government through September 2012. The bill, which Obama signed, actually cut Pell Grants by $11 billion dollars over the next decade.

Obama’s claim he doubled Pell Grant funding is entirely false

President Barack Obama signed into law a $1 trillion bill to fund much of the government through Sept. 30.

The 1,200-page measure sets spending for 10 Cabinet departments including Defense, Education, Treasury, State, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and Labor.

The new law delays the new energy-efficiency standard for light bulbs, cuts Pell grants that help students from low-income families go to college, and calls for a 17 percent reduction in foreign aid administered through the State Department’s Agency for International Development.

Obama Signs $1T Bill to Fund Govt. Through Sept. - Bloomberg

How did he double Pell Grants if money was cut from Pell Grants?

Only the $36 billion dollar link in Amy's link works (and I have no idea where the Pell grant info is on that link); the $18 billion dollar link says 'page not found'.

Come on. Haven't you heard of the Obama magic math? It's called sleight of hand. But then people like Lakhota keep drinking that Kool-Aid. Maybe they Obamaphones they get for free have affected their minds with high doses of EMP?

 

[francoHFW]

Not cutting them is doubling what the Pub budget had...lol

 

[Zoom-boing]

Hmmm.

In the 2008-09 academic year, Pell Grant expenditures were about $18 billion. In 2011-12, expenditures are $36 billion.

While funding has doubled, the number of students who receive Pell Grants has increased more slowly. In 2008, the grants assisted 6.1 million students, while in 2012, 9.7 million students received aid, an increase of 59 percent.

Expenditures have doubled. Expenditures are not the same as funding.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Last I heard, Obama doubled Pell grants.

He did no such thing, nor has he cut them. I have been a college admissions counselor for 4 years, and PELL grant amounts have remained pretty stagnant during that time.

About the only thing that MAY have happened is that eligibility requirements may have adjusted. However, I have not seen any noticeable changes in what students get awarded in the last four years.

They did.

If I recall correctly the amount awarded changed, it's less now.

 

[Greenbeard]

The first term policy changes to Pell grants are summarized well in Investing in Pell Grants to Make College Affordable:

Pell Grants are the foundation of our national efforts to make college affordable. Unfortunately, their purchasing power has diminished over time. Since coming into office, President Obama has worked aggressively to increase the maximum Pell award because he recognizes that for millions of Americans, Pell Grants are the primary form of financial aid they use to pay tuition. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act strengthens the Pell Grant program for students and families by:

• Raising the Maximum Pell Grant and Assuring that It Continues to Grow: Pell Grant scholarships help more than 8 million Americans a year afford college, but the purchasing power of these grants has rapidly diminished over time. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act invests more than $40 billion in Pell Grants to ensure that all eligible students receive an award and that these awards are increased in future years to help keep pace with both inflation and the rising costs of college. These investments, coupled with the funding provided in the Recovery Act and the President’s first two budgets, will more than double the total amount of funding available for Pell Grants since the President took office. The bill will increase the Federal Pell Grant maximum award by the Consumer Price Index from 2013 through 2017, which is estimated to raise the maximum grant for students from $5,550 to $5,975 according to non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates. By the 2020-2021 academic school year, more than 820,000 additional Pell Grant awards are expected to result from this new law.
• Stabilizing Pell Grant Funding: The budgeting process for Pell Grants often leads to funding shortfalls. The current shortfall is particularly severe because of the large number of students and workers qualifying for the award that have recently returned to school. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act covers the expected funding shortfall and much of the recent growth in Pell costs, putting the program on more secure footing for years to come.
• Investing in Students Rather Than Subsidizing Banks: The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act pays for increased investments in Pell Grants by reforming the current student loan programs. Delivering all student loans through the direct student loan program—instead of subsidizing banks through the more costly Federal Family Educational Loan program— will save taxpayers nearly $68 billion by 2020 according to the Congressional Budget Office. The bill reinvests these savings in students.

 

[Jimmy_Jam]

Last I heard, Obama doubled Pell grants.

He did no such thing, nor has he cut them. I have been a college admissions counselor for 4 years, and PELL grant amounts have remained pretty stagnant during that time.

About the only thing that MAY have happened is that eligibility requirements may have adjusted. However, I have not seen any noticeable changes in what students get awarded in the last four years.

They did.

If I recall correctly the amount awarded changed, it's less now.

Not that I've seen, but if the amount awarded goes down, I guess I'll see it sooner or later. Another thing that has happened from what I can see is that the maximum number of years for PELL grants was reduced from 9 years to 6 years. That is not much of a tragedy, really. If junior is needing nine years to finish a bachelors degree then something is wrong.

Incidentally, government funding of PELL grants did nearly double for the 2008/2009 aid year. What drives me nuts is that people somehow think that individual students were getting more money for school. Not so. Not much changed in that regard. What probably did change was that more students were meeting eligibility than before, which may be because college was more in demand immediately following the recession. So at least some of that increase was due simply to an increase in the number of requests. How much? I don't know.

It would be nice to see the government invest more in education (including reform, not just money) and infrastructure, something that might actually be productive and growth-oriented, but until there is a solution for social security, medicare, and defense spending, expect to see more cuts in places like the former.