More Money for Pell Grants and for Research in House Appropriations Bill

Washington — The maximum Pell Grant would increase by $200, to $5,550, and spending on the National Institutes of Health would grow by $942-million, under a bill approved by a panel of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee this morning. (See a summary table here.)

The bill, which would finance student aid and biomedical research in the 2010 fiscal year, would also provide a $20-million increase for the federal TRIO programs for disadvantaged students and an extra $10-million for Gear Up, which helps low-income students prepare for college. President Obama’s proposed budget would finance the programs at current levels.

Like the president’s budget, the bill would provide no increase for Federal Work study or Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, keeping them at $981-million and $758-million, respectively.

Institutions that serve minority students — including historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, and Hispanic-serving institutions — would get $653-million, a $110-million increase over the current year, although the programs would still face budget cuts next year, when supplemental money appropriated by Congress two years ago is scheduled to run out. President Obama had proposed a 5-percent increase for most minority-serving institutions.

Today’s session of a House spending subcommittee marks the first stage in the annual appropriations process. The full Committee on Appropriations is scheduled take up the measure next week, and a Senate panel is expected to consider its version of the bill the following week. The 2010 fiscal year begins on October 1.

The House bill would be more generous to researchers than would President Obama’s proposed budget, which would provide $500-million less for the National Institutes of Health. It would be equally generous on Pell Grants, although it would continue to set the maximum award through the annual appropriations process rather than make Pell Grants mandatory, as the president has proposed. —Kelly Field