A senior U.S. Senate Democrat is proposing a sweeping higher education bill with a Pell Grant increase, more funding for the nation’s tribal colleges and scholarships to students who study science, math and engineering.
The Education Competitiveness Act from Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, would raise the maximum Pell Grant to $6,000 for low-income students. The current maximum grant of $4,050 has not increased since 2003.
To encourage enrollment in math, science and engineering, the senator would offer four-year scholarships to 25,000 students who commit to study the disciplines in college and then take a teaching position for at least four years. Another 25,000 students could receive scholarships for graduate-level study, again in exchange for a teaching commitment.
“Smart folks around the globe are getting jobs that used to belong exclusively to American workers,” Baucus said in presenting the plan. “There’s no guarantee that America will always be number one.”
The plan has two major components to help American Indian students. For tribal colleges, the plan would increase per-student support to $7,000. The current limit is $4,447 for each full-time student. Colleges with small endowments also could become eligible for a tax-exempt bond program that usually funds school renovations. Tribal colleges could use these Qualified Zone Academy Bonds for renovations, teacher training, course materials and other educational programs.
The bill also would increase federal support for the Johnson O’Malley program, a U.S. Department of the Interior initiative that provides supplemental support to K-12 American Indian students in public schools. The extra funding would make up for recent cutbacks, says Lillian A. Sparks, executive director of the National Indian Education Association.
“Every year, they’ve been flat funded, and several schools have been zeroed out,” she says.
