Credit: Matthew Funk
On Wednesday, Dean of Student Financial Services Patricia McWade and Associate Vice President of Federal Relations Scott Fleming hosted a meeting to discuss potential cuts in federal aid for the coming academic year and discuss ways for students to get involved in the debate as the White House and Congress prepare to begin the process of creating a budget for fiscal year 2012.
Newly elected Republican representatives have vowed significant cuts to government spending, while President Barack Obama has stated his intent to freeze federal discretionary spending for the next five years. Any budget proposal must begin in the Republican-controlled House, and party leadership has vowed to try to push federal spending back to fiscal year 2008 levels.
McWade began the meeting by noting the role of the University’s longstanding “partnership with the federal government” in providing financial assistance to students.
“The Democratic Congress was very generous in funding increases to Pell Grants and the like,” McWade said to a crowd of approximately 50 students.
Although Obama made a firm pledge to protect federal Pell Grant appropriations from coming cuts, other programs are likely to be targeted as the GOP looks to trim federal spending.
“Realistically, we cannot fight every single program cut, there will be cuts,” Fleming, who consulted aides to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct.), a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, said.
This federal partnership, McWade added, plays a significant role in the University’s ability to provide student aid. McWade also noted that the University’s aid endowment is considerably smaller than aid endowments among comparable institutions, making federal money more significant in offsetting costs that would otherwise need to be University-funded. Georgetown students received nearly $3.5 million in federal Pell Grants last academic year, with millions in additional aid coming from Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants, Perkins loans, and Federal Work Study.
Between fiscal years 2008 and 2011, federal appropriations for Pell Grants have more than doubled, from $16.4 billion to $34.8 billion, with other federal student aid programs also receiving funding increases.
Despite potential cuts to federal aid programs, McWade claimed that changes to the University’s financial aid policies are not currently on the table.
“There is no talk at Georgetown at the moment about cutting back our commitment to full need,” McWade said.
Nevertheless, both McWade and Fleming stressed in their speeches that gaps in federal aid would need to be filled by the University and would inevitably need to be offset by cuts elsewhere, affecting opportunities for all students.
Asked about his potential stake in the debate, Eric Mooring (COL ’13), who attended Wednesday’s meeting, said the debate was unlikely to affect him personally but it had him concerned.
“All students should keep in mind that the money is fungible and that this would affect everyone’s experiences at all levels of the university,” Mooring said.
Although a draft budget is not due to be released until Feb. 14, Fleming explained that the likelihood of proposals for cutting some federal student aid make it important for the University to have a plan of engagement.
“If we waited to do this meeting, then we’re running to catch up,” he said.
Fleming focused his talk on the importance of personal engagement with members of Congress in the coming debate. As of Feb. 2, the University Office of Federal Relations has introduced the Federal Student Financial Aid Action Network, allowing students to voluntarily divulge information about their federal financial aid and providing them the option of sharing their own stories.
Fleming told students that in his experience such testimonies were critical in personalizing political debates.
“If you and other students who are getting federal aid want to be my poster children, I want to know about it,” he said.
—Additional reporting by Neha Ghanshamdas.
