Guide to Education Grants

Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the incoming chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, earlier this week outlined the Democrats agenda priorities for education when they take control of Congress from the Republicans next month. High on the list is the their intention to cut the interest rates on need-based loans from 6.8% to 3.4%. Democrat party leaders have also stated that they will raised Pell Grants from $4,050 to $5,100 – at an estimated cost of $4 billion. What the Democrats did not make clear is how they are going to pay for these changes, especially since they have promised to avoid increasing the deficit. Their options will be to cut the budget in other areas or create new taxes, meaning that the public could be paying more for fewer programs. You can also count on there being stiff resistance from Republicans. As ambitious as the Democrats agenda seems, it may be too costly and too impractical to advance.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 17th, 2006 at 9:22 am and is filed under Education Funding News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.