As college students across the country are getting ready to head to school this Fall, the most important question for many of them in this difficult economic time is how to pay for it without plunging themselves into crippling debt for the years ahead.
The issue here is Pell Grants. Pell Grants are college grants that the federal government provides to students whose parents make less than $60,000 each year. In 2008 and 2009, over 96,000 Minnesotans received Pell Grants to help get them through college, and 62.5% of national applicants did not receive the grants due to a lack of funding.
In May, Erik Paulsen sponsored a bill "To express the sense of Congress that the Federal Pell Grant program should be a high funding priority." While I'm sure he would appreciate if everyone would judge how he feels about the issue based on his rhetoric, let's take a quick look at his voting record.
In February of 2009, Paulsen voted against $15 Billion worth of funding for Pell Grants as part of the Stimulus bill. In September of 2009, Paulsen voted against the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which added $40 billion of funding the program. That's $55 Billion of funding Paulsen voted against. Then, a couple months later, he "expressed the sense" that Congress should fully fund the program. Jim Meffert would like to "express the sense" that Paulsen should do something about it instead of just admiring the problem.
Paulsen voted against adding an additional $55 billion to the Pell Grant program and cutting government subsidies to banks to administer them twice, then turned around and had the nerve to send out a press release calling for the "full funding of Pell Grants". Rep. Paulsen, if giving students the Pell Grant funding they need to stay in college is important to you, why did you vote against additional funding? TWICE!?
Here's what Jim said today in response to Paulsen's hypocrisy :
“In this economy, it is more important than ever that all Minnesota families have access higher education for their kids—whether that is in the form of a university, apprenticeship program, community college or technical school. For many families, Pell grants have been crucial to putting higher education within reach. In 2008-2009 alone, Pell grants helped over 96,000 Minnesota students attend college.
“Earlier this year Congressman Paulsen sponsored a bill to express support for Pell grants. Unfortunately, his bill was just a statement that did not contain any actual Pell grant funds. So far, Paulsen had two opportunities to help deliver Pell grant funds, and he has voted no both times.
"Expressing support for Pell grants, while denying real support for Pell grants, is clearly another one of Paulsen’s Washington political games. But in this game, the ones who really lose are our kids. In Congress, you can be sure that I will vote for the things I say I support, especially when it comes to building a stronger future for our children.”
Jim Meffert is the former head of the Minnesota Parent Teacher Association, and he understands the challenges that individual families face. He laid out five central principles on his website for helping to repair some of the things that are wrong with our Higher Education system:
-Support legislation to increase funding for higher education grants and loans. He will also support efforts to keep federal student loans at an affordable interest rate and develop further ‘forgiveness’ options for students entering certain career areas.
-Work to reform the higher education financing system and hold accountable institutions that are unwilling to control costs.
-Shift taxpayer dollars away from subsidizing big banks and lenders in favor of direct federal loans with lower interest rates and more flexible repayment options.
-Fight for more aid to middle class families who make too much money to qualify for Pell Grants, but don’t make enough to be able to pay for their children’s college out of pocket.
-Support President Obama’s ten year plan to revitalize our community and technical colleges. We can’t ignore the value these 2 year institutions play in training our workforce.
Let's elect a real leader for Minnesota's 3rd District that will actually support the things he talks about. This week, our campaign released a poll that showed that only 33% of the voters in the district were definitely voting for Erik Paulsen. We need all the help we can get to help get our message out there that this is a winnable race. Here's a link to our Facebook page that you can pass on to your friends or leave a donation at. Next week, Jim will be holding an online town hall where anyone can log in and ask questions, and we will be sure to post here when we have exact time, date, and login details.