Commentary: House GOP Appears Set on Making College Less Affordable for Millions of Students
End Notes
[1] Spiros Protopsaltis and Sharon Parrott, “Pell Grants — a Key Tool for Expanding College Access and Economic Opportunity — Need Strengthening, Not Cuts,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 27, 2017, https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/pell-grants-a-key-tool-for-expanding-college-access-and-economic-opportunity.
[2] The precise cut is not spelled out in the budget documents. Spending cuts in the mandatory “education and social services” budget category total $211 billion over the decade. Of this, $76 billion is assumed to come from the elimination of mandatory Pell funding. The bulk of the remaining $135 billion would need to come from student loans, but up to $17 billion could come from eliminating the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), which the House Budget Committee report identifies as a proposed cut. Figures used for Pell and SSBG reflect the Congressional Budget Office baseline from January 2017, used in the House GOP budget.
[3] Michael Mitchell, Michael Leachman, and Kathleen Masterson, “Funding Down, Tuition Up: State Cuts to Higher Education Threaten Quality and Affordability at Public Colleges,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, updated August 15, 2016, https://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/funding-down-tuition-up.