Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Education takes bailout bill cuts
By Patrick Gallagher
The Heights, Boston College
February 09, 2009

In a series of late developments to the proposed bailout legislation, educators across the country may be facing significant decreases to the $150 billion in relief that was initially anticipated.

According to reports from a Washington, D.C.-based Jesuit organization that has been actively involved in lobbying Congress for education funding, a bipartisan coalition headed by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, proposed an amendment that included stripping billions aimed at higher education.

The report indicated that the amendment sought to remove all increases in federal Pell grants from the bill, as well as $79 billion intended to relieve education budget shortfalls within the states. The New York Times also said that $20 billion initially allocated for the modernization and construction of school facilities was cut from the final version of the bailout that will be voted on by the Senate.

Senators were able to compromise over the final details of a massive economic bailout late Friday afternoon after a week of debate, agreeing in principle to a $780 billion relief package just hours after the U.S. Labor Department released statistics that the economy lost nearly 600,000 jobs in January.

The agreement comes a day after President Obama criticized Senate leaders for the "inexcusable and irresponsible" delay in the approval of the bill. Final negotiations involved Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Senators Nelson and Collins, and Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, according to The New York Times' report.

"BC administrators have been keeping a close eye on discussions in Washington," said university spokesperson Jack Dunn. "Leahy and VP for Governmental & Community Affairs Tom Keady visited Washington recently to advocate on behalf of the university."

More details regarding the specific allocation of funds will be revealed on Tuesday, when the Senate is expected to vote to approve the stimulus. The White House has scheduled a press conference for Tuesday evening to announce the bailout.

The office of financial aid at Boston College is paying particularly close attention to any news regarding the status of funding for education. In the initial plan passed by the House of Representatives last week, the maximum federal Pell grants would be increased to $5,550 by 2010-'11. Coupled with nearly $500 million to go towards work-study programs, these measures were aimed at helping to make college more affordable.

"For us it would help because if we get an increase in Pell grants or Pell grant recipients, it would replace some of the grant money that we're giving anyway," said Bernie Pekala, director of student financial strategies. "It would help the neediest students. It's the principle that we're going to meet the need anyway … that would help us because we can help more students."

The coalition in the Senate led by Collins and Nelson was looking to strike much of the funding for education, among other items, based on the principle that it would not immediately help create more jobs, Pekala said. The two discussed later proposing a separate bill to account for this and similar social initiatives.

"People get hung up on a stimulus—that is to create jobs," Pekala said. "They know that Pell grants aren't a stimulus; it's more of a social program, but we need people to be educated now. The first thing they do when they become unemployed is to look for education or training. This is a safety net—it's there so that our people will be able to be highly educated as a viable workforce. Long term, you want to educate, and some people are looking at it short-sighted."

Additionally, states are currently facing a $91 billion deficit in education funding, according to the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor Web site. In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by the House, a $79 billion stabilization fund intended to help prevent layoffs and budget cuts, as well as $13 billion in Title I grants for high poverty schools. By providing $20 billion to go toward the modernization of schools and colleges, the committee estimates that over 200,000 jobs will be created across various industries.

Last month, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced a series of measures aimed at balancing the state's budget, including additional taxes and sweeping cuts in education and health care. Patrick froze the local school aid distribution, effectively withholding $300 million that would have gone to school districts across the state.

Additionally, the governor proposed cutting state subsidies to universities by more than $100 million. Despite these measures, Patrick's budget proposal is still dependent on at least $1.2 billion in aid from the federal government for the Commonwealth, according to a report from The Boston Globe.

With BC administrators and trustees still in the process of assessing the university's financial situation and assembling the budget proposal for the 2010 fiscal year, there have been no indications as to the possibility of budget cuts or a hike in tuition.

"The Fiscal Year '10 budget will be approved by the Board of Trustees at its meeting in March," Dunn said. "Once the budget is approved, Fr. Leahy will provide the BC community with an update on the university's financial outlook. We remain committed to the institutional priorities outlined in our strategic plan."

Interim Dean of A&S David Quigley said that department heads are still awaiting the word on the details of the 2010 fiscal year budget, which applies to the time period beginning on June 1, 2009.

"Across higher education, academic leaders are confronting some tough choices this year," Quigley said. "In Arts & Sciences, we recognize the difficult economic times, but we're committed to implementing the university's strategic plan. At the heart of that plan are a few core priorities: liberal arts education, student formation, [and] integrated science."

While students seeking to apply to BC for the fall of 2009 are admittedly more interested in hearing about admission decisions than tuition increases, there have been concerns expressed over how the university will react to the recession, said John Mahoney, director of undergraduate admissions.

"Families are interested in how the economy has affected our endowment, as well as plans for the future," Mahoney said. "Given that Boston College is expensive, like other private institutions, we constantly stress the value of the experience here."

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