Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Colleges Say New Grant Program Sucks

The new "academic competitiveness grants" which were the sole spot of good news amidst the $12.7 billion cuts to higher education turn out to be pretty terribly designed.
They give extra cash to Pell-eligible students (ie lower income) but only if:

--They maintain a certain grade point average (confusing the relationship between merit and need-based aid).
--They attended an "academically rigorous" high school. That lets out a huge proportion of poor students. And creates a new federal role in governing high school curricula.
--They go to school full time. Most lower-income and community college students go part time.
--They are American citizens. Guess which age group in this country contains the highest proportion of immigrants?

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