Although, after many months of negotiations and a potential government shutdown, Congress and President Barack Obama finally agreed to a 2011 budget bill, the end result has been a mixed bag for education advocates. The deal will protect some vital programs while cutting others.
Cuts to the GEAR UP early college awareness program, and TRIO programs such as Talent Search and Upward Bound, are among the many provisions of the bill, which the House and Senate cleared in April. TRIO would lose $26 million of its $853 million budget, while GEAR UP would see its funding cut from $323 million to $303 million.
The moves brought widespread criticism from college access advocates. The Council for Opportunity in Education, which advocates for TRIO, says the provision would eliminate services for 90,000 students.
“We cannot and will not tolerate cuts to the TRIO program,” says COE President Arnold Mitchem.
COE is urging Talent Search and Upward Bound administrators to express their dissatisfaction directly to the White House. The 2011 budget, Mitchem says, “makes clear that TRIO is not among the core education priorities of the Obama administration. It is now up to us to change this stance.”
Another casualty is the year-round Pell Grant recently enacted to help students accelerate their studies. Obama had proposed eliminating this program next year, citing its unexpectedly high costs and the need to shore up the traditional Pell program. Congress went along with the request a year early, eliminating the policy for the current fiscal year.
However, the 2011 spending bill would maintain the current maximum Pell Grant at $5,550, which the White House and many advocacy organizations viewed as a major victory.
