The issue: Money was taken from work study and child care to pay for state grants.
What we think: There shouldn’t have been more grants awarded than the budget could support.
How money should be distributed to state universities and struggling college students has always been a problem with no simple solution, and now more than ever, due to the budget deficit.
Now, when there is a shortage in one area there are few reserve funds to make up for it. Since the money has to come from somewhere, it is just shifted around causing losses in other areas.
The law requiring Legislation to take from work study and childcare was intended to be used when the defecit was $11 million. Since Legislation mandated $5 million more, the suspected amount for reallocation was about $6 million. Although that is still a lot of money, there would have been less impact on work study and childcare.
State Grants were placed as first priority because of the bad economy. More people are going back to school so they can get better jobs. In the meantime, tuition has increased in public and private colleges and more students need assistance. The idea is that the more people that get through college, the better jobs they will have, thus improving their economic status.
However, state grant money is distributed according to the cost of the institution one attends. Therefore, students attending private college receive more money to cover the same degree. Since 25 percent of state grants go to private school students, 55 percent of the money goes into private schools.
For the money to be distributed fairly, it should be distributed between state grants, work study,and childcare. Instead of helping less people with larger grants, the funds should be spread out to help more people in this needy time.
Eligibility should not have been widened until the funds were available to support the additional grants. Each grant awarded should have been reduced just a little bit to lighten the load so the $16 million loss would not have been so hard hitting.
