MONTGOMERY - AL -
More than 5,000 Alabama public
higher education students lost Pell Grant eligibility in the Fall of 2012, with
the potential of 13,000 more being affected during 2013 as a result of changes
in the federal guidelines. The cuts in Pell Grants have resulted in lower
enrollment at nearly every community college in Alabama, as well as at public
universities serving areas with high unemployment.
These reductions strongly
jeopardize Alabama's goal to achieve higher levels of college completions.
Those findings have been released
in a study conducted by the Education Policy Center at the University of
Alabama. The study was commissioned by the Alabama Commission on Higher
Education (ACHE).
In the past four years, 43,000 more
students were using Pell to access Alabama public higher education.
During that time period, federal Pell funding for access in Alabama grew by
$300 million, 72% at two- year public institutions and 55% at four-year public
universities.
"The federal changes will
have a huge impact in educational attainment," according to Gregory G. Fitch,
ACHE executive director. "These reductions strongly jeopardize
Alabama's pipeline to higher levels of college completions".
The Pell Grant program serves as
Alabama's de facto state student aid program. The Alabama Student
Assistance Program, funded by the Education Trust Fund, uses state dollars to
support needs-based education. It has seen a decrease in funding since
2008. Another blow to student aid was Alabama's lost access to Federal
Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) matching funds. LEAP was
eliminated at the federal level.
Alabama falls below the national
average in the number of college graduates. The inability of students to
get financial assistance could keep that number low which will hamper economic
development growth.
The detailed report can be found at
www.ache.alabama.gov A Study
of Pell Grants in Alabama is located under Quick Links – Commission
Initiatives.
