In budget proposals for 2005, the Bush administration increased funding for the Department of Education. However, it did not increase funding for Pell grants, which are designed for low income students pursuing higher education.

The impact of the funding situation elicits a range of opinions as diverse as the group of students it affects. For some, the decision is unavoidable; for others, it's distressing.

Barbara Hubler is director of the Office of Student Financial Aid at SF State.
"Financial aid is directly related to access," Hubler said. "It is very unfortunate that Pell Grants -- the basic grant for the neediest undergraduate students -- will not be increased for 2004-05."

Representatives from the Bush administration say that in addition to Pell grant assistance, students also have the avenues of state grants, tuition waivers, and loans to explore.

Student and faculty opinion at SF State seem to differ.

"I think Bush's decision will force underprivileged students to take less classes in order to afford school," said Lauren McLeod, 25, a criminal justice major at SF State. "It will take students longer to graduate and many students may drop out all together."

Pell grants are federally issued and currently available for undergraduate students and those in the teaching credential program at SF State. Each year, money issued for Pell grant recipients ranges from $400 to $4,000, according to the financial aid department at SF State.

According to the American Council on Education (ACE), however, the apparent lack of funding for Pell grants may not be entirely the fault of the President.

Since the grant was first issued in 1973, student participation in the program has risen 19 percent. Blaming the country's economic slump of 2000, the ACE claims that the increased number of students applying for the grant is the cause of the lack of funding.

The decision to award Pell grants to students was made in 1972 as an amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1965.

Accordingly, funding was gathered through annual appropriations, according to the ACE. At that time, a formula was worked out to figure how much each participating student should receive.

Each student's expected family contribution was subtracted from the maximum Pell grant amount, determining what an individual student would receive. The formula is still used today.

Reportedly, Pell grant money covered 77 percent of the cost for a student to attend a public four-year institution, in 1979 and 1980. Today the maximum amount covers only 41 percent of the cost, according to the ACE.

Still, the Pell grant program is reportedly the largest source of need based assistance in the country, assisting one in four undergraduate students nation-wide. That includes four million students annually, according to the ACE.

Some on campus do not accept the claim that mere funding shortages are to blame for the millions of students who apply each year and still cannot get the assistance they truly need.

"I don't think that the Bush administration really cares or really thinks about education for under-represented students or students of color," said Bobby Farlice, an advisor for the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at SF State. "This is based on a class bias due to the elite economic and social position that these people hold."

Currently, one-half of people of color attending four-year universities depend on Pell grants for assistance, according to government findings.

"I think the failure to increase financial aid makes Bush look like an elitist who is concerned with education but only if it is for upper and middle class students," McLeod said. "I am disappointed that there will be higher fees and less financial aid."