Senate Appropriations Committee Advances FY 2025 Budget Proposal Increasing Funding for Pell Grants, Federal Student Aid Administration
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday advanced its education budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2025, which would boost funding for the federal Pell Grant program and student aid administration.
The bill, which was also released on Thursday, was advanced by a 25-3 bipartisan vote and would impact the 2025-26 award year. Overall, the proposal requests $80 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education (ED), a nearly $1 billion increase from the enacted FY 2024 budget. Notably, the Senate’s overall request for the department is over $2 billion less than the White House’s $82.4 billion request.
The proposal includes a $100 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award, with a maximum award of $7,495 for the 2025-26 award year. According to the committee, campus-based aid programs would see flat funding — the same amount enacted in both FY 2023 and FY 2024 — with $910 million allocated for the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) program and $1.2 billion allocated for Federal Work-Study (FWS).
The bill also proposes $100 million for the administration of student aid programs over FY 2024.
“There are investments in these bills to make families’ lives a little easier and help parents make ends meet like increased funding for child care, our K-12 public schools, and to help students get a higher education, support for community health care and public health work, resources to make sure families can afford heating and AC, and much more,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, in her opening remarks during Thursday’s markup.
Earlier in July, the House Appropriations Committee advanced its own education funding proposal for fiscal year 2025, which would cut funding in half for the FWS and FSEOG programs, as well as trimming funding for FSA administration. The proposal also keeps the maximum Pell Grant at $7,395, the second time in a row that the maximum Pell Grant would not see an increase. Under the House bill, ED would receive $72 billion. However, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) noted that the education funding in this proposal actually totals $67.9 billion — not $72 billion — when accounting for rescissions of previously enacted funds that were included in the bill.
Overall, the House proposal would allot $23.5 billion for the federal student aid programs, a decrease of $1.1 billion below the 2024 level. And ED would receive about $1.5 billion to administer student aid programs, a 26% cut from FY 2024.
In July, NASFAA Vice President of Public Policy & Federal Relations Karen McCarthy said that while NASFAA appreciates the bipartisan commitment to preserving both the Pell Grant program and the program’s reserve fund, cuts to FSA and the campus-based aid programs will disproportionately impact many low-income students, especially as they continue to deal with the ramifications of the 2024-25 FAFSA rollout.
“Cutting funding for programs that provide financial assistance to students pursuing a postsecondary education is short-sighted and will only harm our nation in the long-run,” McCarthy said. “Certainly, curbing funding for the very programs that in many cases make all the difference for financially needy students is not the way to encourage talented students to pursue a postsecondary degree or credential.”
Although both the House and Senate appropriations committees have now approved their FY 2025 education funding proposals, neither proposal has been voted on by its full chamber. With just over 60 days until government funding runs out, Congress could advance a continuing resolution to keep the government funded past Oct. 1, 2024. Stay tuned to Today’s News for updates on the appropriations process.
Publication Date: 8/2/2024
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