"I am proud to be joined by a group of my Republican colleagues in the fight to keep $5.4 billion in education funding in the budget. This additional funding is critical to our efforts to ensure that students have access to higher education, and a chance to participate fully in the American dream," Senator Collins said. "The budget as passed by the Senate provides a significant increase in Pell grants, which help our neediest students afford higher education. Pell grants keep the doors to higher education open to all students, no matter what their financial means. The Senate budget also provides funding for TRIO, vocational education, Perkins loans, and GEAR UP, all programs which have long been a priority of mine."
The letter to budget conferees was signed by the following Republican Senators: Senator Susan Collins of Maine, Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine.
The text of the letter is as follows:
Dear Chairman Gregg and Chairman Nussle:
We write to you, the leaders of the FY2006 Budget Resolution conference committee, to urge your adoption of the Senate position with respect to higher education funding. Specifically, we urge you to maintain the Kennedy amendment providing an additional $5.4 billion for higher education and student aid programs.
During Senate consideration of the budget resolution, we voted in favor of this amendment and were pleased to have it adopted by the Senate. The amendment provides an additional $5.4 billion to restore crucial education programs including TRIO, vocational education, LEAP, Perkins loans, and loan forgiveness programs for teachers. In addition, it provides funding to raise the maximum Pell grant award from $4,050 to $4,500, a long-overdue $450 increase. This increase in the maximum grant is desperately needed. In 1975, the maximum Pell grant covered approximately 80 percent of the costs of attending a public, four-year institution, but today it covers less than 40 percent of these costs. Unfortunately, despite the declining value of the Pell grant, the maximum award has been stagnant at $4,050 for three consecutive years. The additional funding provided by the Senate version is essential to our efforts to provide a significant and much-needed increase in the Pell maximum award this year.
Our nation's economic well-being depends on our ability to provide greater access to higher education for students, regardless of their financial means. We believe that the $5.4 billion in additional funding is essential to our efforts to ensure equality of access to higher education for all students and the opportunity to participate fully in the American dream. Therefore, we strongly urge you to adopt the Senate's position and preserve this funding. Thank you for your consideration of this important request.
###