By Jonathan Hiser
UP students who've lost sleep over how they will pay for college tuition may have reason to feel hopeful. The economic stimulus bill signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 17 calls for nearly $91 billion to be given to education, roughly $30 billion of which will go towards raising funds for Pell Grants and increasing the Hope tax credit specifically for college students and their families.
"Those are the two biggest education benefits for UP students," said finance professor Brian Adams. "At the student level, there is definitely more money out there for you."
The bill adds $15.6 billion in funding to the federal Pell Grant, increasing the maximum annual award by $500, bringing it to a total of $5,350 for 2009 and $5,550 in 2010.
The grant is the government's primary source of higher education financial aid for low-income students.
The second benefit comes in the form of an increase in tax credit that undergraduates or their parents can take off on their taxes.
A total of $14 billion will go toward raising the maximum tax credit per student from $1,800 for the first two years to $2,500 for the first four years of college. It allows students to write off the cost of textbooks and tuition.
Adams said these two parts of the bill and others are intended to help students, noting that neither of the aforementioned expenditures help the institution directly.
"Some of it isn't so much meant for stimulus as it is meant to help people and institutions get through difficult times," Adams said.
Junior political science major Jared Walker said he expects the stimulus to have some effect, even if minor, on student life within the current year.
Professor Steven Mayer, chair of the chemistry department, said he is hopeful that faculty will also see some direct benefits of the stimulus in the form of larger research grants.
"The stimulus package doesn't give us any new impetus to pursue grants, but it does give us a lot of hope for the funding rates," Mayer said, noting that the amount of grant funding had been low in recent years.
More than $15 billion in the stimulus package is earmarked for academic research, which will be passed to universities through federal agencies such as the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation. Mayer said a number of professors, himself included, have received research grants from these institutions in the past.
Mayer said he hopes some of the Obama administration's green initiatives will also work their way down to the university level.
"If we are serious about it, we need an educated work force," Mayer said. "You can't do this with just a high school education anymore."
Adams said he thinks the bill does a decent job for college education, noting that he doesn't think private universities like UP are discriminated against by some of the bill's provisions, even though some are aimed specifically at assisting public universities.
"Public universities are non-profits, so they need state assistance to keep going in times like these, whereas UP has done a really good job at managing its funds and costs," Adams said. "We're one of the private institutions that seems like we're going to be OK during this."
Mayer said he supports the focus on education, believing that investing in education is critical to helping the economy.
"One of the most important things in this nation that we can put our money into is education," Mayer said. "It advances everyone."
Adams said it's too early to tell what impact the stimulus bill will have on the economy, but added that it is still an attempt to help.
"One of the good things to take away is there does seem to be something here for everybody," Adams said.
