Consider these cuts against the example provided by neighboring Indiana:The state will deny the financial aid applications of an estimated 130,000 students -- the most in Illinois history.
They were denied because they applied for state aid after May 15, a cutoff months earlier than in years past, thanks to Springfield's budget woes.
Hardest hit? Students at community colleges and returning adult students, because they tend to apply for aid later.
What's more, under the state budget compromise reached earlier this month, which slashed funding for the state's Monetary Award Program in half, no student at any Illinois school will receive aid for the second half of the 2009-2010 school year....
The cuts in state support for the program come as more students submitted applications for aid than ever before. Through June, nearly 200,000 eligible students -- 27 percent more than at the same time last year -- sought aid.
With a budget of $385 million, the state was able to grant more than 145,000 awards of up to nearly $5,000 to students who applied by mid-August last year. That's the typical cutoff. But this year, with more eligible students applying and half the money, the date was moved up to May 15.
Last year, 65 percent of the students who applied after mid-May attended community colleges, meaning those types of students will be hardest hit this year.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development today announced a new program today that will provide $6,000 over two years to pay for students to earn an associate’s degree or a vocational certificate.It's a tough time for state budgets, and, while these articles say nothing about the particular difficulties of each state, they do serve as a reminder that the way policymakers deal with crises matters.
The scholarships, called Workforce Acceleration Grants, are earmarked for unemployed workers or their spouses, or students from impoverished families.
4 comments:
Chad - No doubt this is a terrible cut that Illinois made, but you're comparing cuts in a state-funded program (Illinois) to an increase provided by federal stimulus funding (Indiana). Without broader context, including overall levels of state financial aid, overall levels of college costs, and information about how Illinois is or is not using its stimulus dollars in this regard, I'm not really sure one can draw conclusions from this other than to say that Illinois cut state financial aid funding and Indiana used federal stimulus funds to initiate a new targeted financial aid program.
Liam, I think you're overestimating the faithfulness of legislators to designated pots of money. They can always move money from one fund to another, especially during a time with large infusions of federal cash. I'd also refer you to this site, which shows that Illinois has allocated one of the lowest percentages of State Fiscal Stabilization Funds to higher ed.
http://tinyurl.com/llamzh
That's certainly a decision made on the state level to value other things over higher education. That may even be right for their situation, but it certainly merits attention.
But isn't the determination about how much is distributed to k12 vs. higher education determined by formula? ARRA limits the use of the Education Stabilization Fund to restoring state support for K-12 and Higher Education spending to the greater of the FY08 or FY09 levels. States cannot use the Stabilization funds to increase state support for either K-12 or Higher Education above the greater of level. Unless I misunderstand, those states that have allocated the Education Stabilization Fund to higher education did so because they cut funding in FY09 and/or FY10 below the greater of the FY08 or FY09 levels. So wouldn't that mean that states which use a greater percentage of Education Stabilization Funding for higher are the one ones that actually cut their state higher education budgets more dramatically?
I initially argued differently on my blog, but have since learned that a percentage comparison between k12 and higher ed may not be what it appears.
The maintenance of effort provision applies to FY06 funding levels. So long as the K-12 system and the higher education institutions are above that level, the state has fairly wide discretion in how they want to use the new money. They can even decide whether to use it in FY09, FY10, or save it beyond that. If you follow the link above, you can see quite a bit of variation.
The key portions of Illinois' determinations can be found at the bottom of page 8 and the top of page 9 here:
http://tinyurl.com/kouw4v
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