Apologies for this piece of news during what I hope is--for all of us--a joyful season, but this is, for our students, very important information.
As we finish up with finals and look forward to some time off, Congress is trying to wrap up their funding package, including education funding,
for FY06. Yesterday the House voted, on almost a straight party-line vote (all 200 Dems voted against, as did Independent Bernie Sanders and
twelve Republicans; all the yea votes were Republicans), to cut K-12 funding in key areas, as well as keeping financial aid flat--for the fourth straight year.
While college tuition has gone up approximately 50% over the past five years, Pell Grants have gone from $4,000 to $4050--a 1% increase, with
no change over the past four. And federal loan amounts have been flat for longer than that. Currently over 5,000 full-time PCC students receive Pell grants, and approximately 2700 PCC students receiving Pell are also parents. This funding is vital, and Congress--in order to continue to fund tax cuts basically aimed at the top 1%--are making is more difficult for our students.
As you may be aware, the $50 billion long-term cut which has also passed the House also includes huge increases in interest on student loans--increasing the average loan repay by approximately $6,000. Again, to allow the massive tax cuts for the most well-off Americans. Apologies for
the metaphor, but this is another huge gift in the already massive stockings hung by our wealthiest Americans, and lumps of coal for students struggling to become part of what used to be the "American Dream," via the path of education.
If you would like to contact United States Senator - Gordon Smith or Senator Ron Wyden--the Senate will vote on this, perhaps today--and let them
know that this bill badly hurts the nearly 50% of PCC's full-time students receiving financial aid, information is provided below.
Thanks,
Michael Morrow
COPE VP
mmorrow@pcc.edu
This from AFT - American Federation of Teachers:
The Worst Education Spending Bill in a Decade
Senate To Vote on Same Measure Tomorrow
The House today (Wednesday) passed the second FY06 Labor-HHS-Ed
conference report by a vote of 215-213, with 12 Republicans voting
Senate To Vote on Same Measure Tomorrow
against the bill. While the conference report provided a nominal increase for rural health and education, it essentially continues to underfund
key education programs.
· For the first time in a decade that funding for the Department of Education is cut below the prior years funding level.
· Funding for NCLB is reduced by 3 percent, leaving NCLB (No Child Left Behind) $13.1 billion below the FY06 authorized level. Title I received its smallest increase in
eight years, $100 million. But with inflation, this would result in a cut in current services. Title I was also funded $9.9 billion below the amount promised when the law was enacted.
· Although there was a minor increase of $100 million for IDEA (Council for Exceptional Children), leaving the law underfunded by $4 billion, the
federal share of the cost of special education would be cut from 18.6 percent to 18.0 percent. This is well short of Congress's original promise
to fund 40 percent of the costs of IDEA.· For the fourth consecutive year, the maximum Pell Grant award remains at $4,050.
These minor increases will disappear if the House GOP leadership goes through with their threat of a 1 percent across-the-board cut.
Call the AFT toll-free number (866/327-8670) and the U.S. Capitol switchboard will connect you to your members of Congress. You also can find your senators' direct lines at www.senate.gov.
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