As president of a public research university, one third of whose in-state students are Pell Grant recipients, I strongly oppose a provision in the proposed 2016 budget recently passed by Congress that would cap these grants for low-income students at 2015 levels for 10 years and make their funding discretionary rather than mandatory.
I oppose this legislation because I know the real human stories behind financial aid policy, stories of people like Miles Main, Mary Rowley and Antoine Williams. To learn their stories, watch this video.
And I oppose the legislation for reasons that are grounded in data.
The value of a college degree has never been greater. A 2014 Pew Research Center analysis found that college-educated Millennials aged 25 to 32 working full time earned on average $17,500 a year more than their counterparts with only a high school diploma, a gap that was much narrower for earlier generations. And a 2014 report from New York Federal Reserve Bank found that the wage premium for those with a four-year degree compared to those with just a high school diploma was well over $1 million over the length of the average career.
Read more at The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-sullivan2/congress-wants-to-weaken-the-pell-program-heres-why-they-shouldnt_b_7545348.html