The following was submitted to Glenside Local by Thomas P. Foley, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) located in Harrisburg:
There’s a lot of disagreement on higher education these days. One exception to all the discord, at least so far, are Pell Grants—a program that is especially critical for first generation college students.
The Pell Grant so far has helped 158 million Americans go to college. Here in Glenside alone, that translates to nearly a thousand students in just one year who are able to achieve their dreams thanks to the Pell. This is according to the US Department of Education’s most recently available data on Arcadia University in Glenside and Manor College of Jenkintown. In fact, the percentage of students relying on the Pell Grant at these two schools in particular ranges from 28% up to 49% of the total student body on one campus. Averaged across just this area, that translates to about 2 in 5 students who rely on the Pell Grant to attend college locally around Glenside (39%).
Is it bipartisan? Historically, absolutely yes. Though it bears the name of an education-focused Democratic Senator, Claiborne Pell, it came into existence with strong support from then-President Nixon, and benefited in the floor debate from the leadership of Republican Senators like Jacob Javits.
That bipartisanship continues in the current Administration. When he signed the Executive Order dismantling USDoEd, the President specifically underlined the importance of Pell Grants, saying they “will be fully preserved”— consistent with his first term expansion of Pell. Similarly, during her confirmation hearing, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said that “Defunding is not the goal here. I’d actually even like to see an expansion of Pell Grants.”
And when an OMB circular attempted to pause billions in funding, this Administration made it clear that, “Federal student aid funds (for example, Direct Loans and Pell Grants) were not impacted by the initial [OMB] guidance, and we continue to award and disburse federal student aid.” 81% of Republicans in a recent poll support Pell Grants (and don’t want to see them “in the crosshairs”).
How does Pell help people? Financial aid for post-secondary education is open to anyone regardless of political affiliation. The Pell/FAFSA application doesn’t contain any questions that would hint at political affiliation, nor do programs like Work Study and the GI Bill. The right leaning American Enterprise Institute reaffirmed its value when it wrote that “Pell …appeals to both the left and the right. For Democrats, it offers no-strings funds to low-income students. For Republicans, it funds students rather than colleges, providing a voucher that students can use at the accredited institution of their choice.”
How does Pell help the country? It spreads opportunity across all classes and backgrounds. Grants like Pell are a big part of the reason that the United State is number one in the world in both higher education and research. On higher ed, “many Americans don’t realize just how exceptional the country’s university system actually is,” observed former Treasury Secretary and Wall Street wunderkind Robert Rubin. “Although the United States can claim less than 5% of the world’s population, it is home to 65% of the world’s 20 highest-ranked universities (and 28% of the world’s top-200 universities). Americans can get a quality education at thousands of academic institutions throughout the country.”
Because of programs like Pell, any American–not just the wealthy ones–can access a world class education. Vice President Vance funded his college education in part with federal financial aid, including the GI Bill. I am a first generation college grad with not a single grandparent who had the chance at a high school diploma. All 11 of my siblings had the chance for higher ed, and federal financial aid helped me to graduate from the same law school as Vance.
As to research, it is no accident that higher education is “among America’s most competitive international exporters.” The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis found that, “In dollar terms, last year, the United States sold more educational services to the rest of the world than it sold in natural gas and coal combined.”
Lost in the tangle about tariffs and trade is the fact that higher education is an answer to, not a cause of, trade deficits. That is because of the quality of research that fuels not just exports, but innovations which lead to trillions of dollars to for profit industries who use those discoveries to make improvements in medicine, science and national defense.
Reasonable people may disagree about how much, how, and when to disperse federal financial aid. The bottom line is that Pell works. Financial aid isn’t a handout. It is an investment–one that pays incredible dividends for all Americans, as higher education propels prosperity like nothing else in our economy.
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