By Catherine Brown, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy
Read time: Two minutes
Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee Republicans released their draft Fiscal Year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education spending bill. It includes devastating cuts to education that, if enacted, would have major ramifications for students and the US economy for decades to come, including elimination of the Federal Work-Study Program and the Supplemental
Educational Opportunity Grant and a freeze on the maximum Pell Grant. The National College Attainment Network (NCAN) opposes this bill in the strongest possible terms.
Overall, the bill cuts spending for the US Department of Education by $22 billion, or 28% and reduces spending to 2006 levels in real dollars. It eliminates the Federal Work-Study Program and the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, which provide
critical financial aid to students from low-income families. It also cuts funding to the Office of Federal Student Aid by $263 million at a time when states and institutions face heightened costs due to the transition to Better FAFSA and federal student
aid is already cutting services to student borrowers.
In a sign of bipartisan support for the Pell Grant, the bill freezes the maximum Pell at the FY23 level of $7,395. This level is wildly insufficient to cover the rising cost of college and halts the strong progress Congress has made in recent years towards
restoring the eroding purchasing power of the program, but it is not as devastating as the cuts sustained by many other programs. The bill was marked up in House Appropriations Subcommittees this morning and will now proceed to be considered
by the full Appropriations Committee. NCAN will keep our members updated on advocacy opportunities to weigh in with their elected officials.
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