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Cuts to federal student financial aid, coupled with the national recession and the possibility of additional reductions, are causing serious stress for Maryland students and putting their academic dreams in jeopardy. Furthermore, these developments negatively impact our nation’s economic competitiveness, stifle job creation, and severely restrict the nation’s ability to achieve its college completion goals.
In recent years, federal student aid has been cut by $30 billion through elimination of the year-round Pell award; elimination of funding for the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships (LEAP) Program; elimination of the in-school interest exemption for graduate and professional students; and reductions in federal funding for the TRIO Programs, GEAR UP, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) Program, and graduate education programs.
Pell, SEOG, Work-Study, and subsidized federal loan programs have helped economically disadvantaged and capable students, as well as displaced workers, enroll and remain in college despite the economic downturn. An investment in their education is an investment in our future. To deflate these vital programs would adversely impact the nation’s economic prosperity and jeopardize its strength and security while limiting access, choice, and opportunity for the Marylanders who rely on federal financial aid to reach their educational goals.
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