Editorial : As Pell Grants face massive cuts, SU must aid current students before future students
A bill sitting in the Senate could slash billions of dollars in Pell Grant awards, which the federal government disburses to help lower-income students pay for college. Syracuse University officials said they have yet to decide how they will act if Congress signs these massive cuts into law.
About 26 percent of the campus is eligible for the Pell Grant; this statistic includes several members of this Editorial Board. Cuts to this important program could throw into jeopardy many students’ ability to stay at SU. University officials must help alleviate, as best they can, the financial burden the potential cuts could have on current students.
Last spring, several University Senate members expressed concern about the rising discount rate. They worried SU could not sustain the expensive and vast amount of financial aid it offers students. Financial sustainability must be a priority, but the university must do whatever it can to ensure the students who have already invested money, time and work and have established life-long relationships at this school will stay.
Students receiving Pell Grants came to this school believing a portion of the cost would be covered with no long-term debt. So university-sponsored loans are not ideal, especially if these students will already struggle paying back housing, supplies or other incurred loans upon graduation.
For the officials drafting the budget for the next fiscal year: Allocating money to current students must take priority over disbursing money for next year’s and future incoming freshmen. Hearts break when a junior or senior must leave the school and start over elsewhere because college became unforeseeably too expensive.
