Will the proposed cuts to the Federal Pell Grant program affect

your education?
Group 4: Fernanda Balderrama, Miguel Hernandez, Robin
Morgan
Class: EDT180C
Lewallen
Spring 2017: April 23, 2017

Grant cuts
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Financial aid is a determining factor that contributes to the continuation of higher education in

most cases if that financial aid is not provided there are no options. For this project, our group

decided to focus on the impact of the proposed cuts to the Pell Grant program. Each one of us in

the group has a stake in this issue whether it be reliant on the funds provided by the program or

the outside options. We created a survey using google docs forms to estimate the impact of these

cuts if voted in on the community of students here at Arizona State University.

Our survey consisted of a few questions; Will the proposed cuts to the Federal Pell Grant

program affect your education? Do you live on campus? Are you considered an Arizona

resident? Are you currently employed? Would you consider taking out a third-party loan? What

percent of your tuition payments come from loans? and what college are you enrolled in? From

the responses, we could go in depth of the impacts on students attending ASU.

We received a total of 125 responses based on the questions; however, we further analyzed the

responses to find correlations between answers. For instance, we correlated the responses of the

living situation with those that will be affected by the proposed cuts. We also, analyzed the

responses of whether an individual is considered an Arizona Resident and his/her living situation.

The last correlation we analyzed was determining which college would be most affected by the

cuts based on the question of which college students belong to and whether they believe the cuts

will affect them. With these correlations, we could further analyze the effects of the proposed

cuts and the possible changes due to the cuts.

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We asked students whether they believe that the proposed cuts will affect them: 57 responded

yes, 13 responded with no, and 54 with I dont know. To improve the analysis, we should have

asked how much of the Pell grant covers tuition or other educational expenses to further analyze

the effects of the cut. For the students that responded with no, a question to ask is how do they

pay for college or what are the reasons as to why they dont receive the Pell Grant. For those that

responded with dont know the same questions above applies to further down their response to

a yes or a no. Another question to ask is, if students do not receive a Pell Grant in the future or if

it is insufficient, would they consider dropping out of college or consider starting vocational

school. This graph determines the number of students that will be affected by the proposed cuts,

those that will not, and those that are not sure.

We asked the students how much of their tuition payment comes from loans. Fifteen students

responded that 30% to 50% of their tuition comes from loans. Out of the five options, the 30% to

50% was the category that most students selected to describe how much of their loans covers

tuition. We asked this question to compare how much students spend on paying for college and
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the possibility of increasing the amount of loans or the amount of the loan itself to afford for

college due to the reduction of financial aid from the proposed Pell Grant cuts. To improve this

chart, I would have asked these same students whether they have received a Pell Grant and how

much to further analyze how much students would pay out of pocket. The graph below shows the

number of students that consider taking out a loan of another loan in the future due to the

reduction of the Pell Grant. Fourteen people respond with Yes and Seventy-eight responded with

No. To improve this chart, we should have asked, another question referring to other methods to

paying for college other than with loans; it is evident that several students will be affected by the

proposed cuts as the previous graph shows. It is probable that students do not want to take out

more loans because a total of 62 students take out loans to pay for their tuition. It is reasonable to

assume that students dont want to take out more loans but if the Pell grant they receive is

reduced, then students must seek for another means to pay for college. Some alternative options

are to apply for scholarships, increase family contribution, work or work more hours, etc. This

graph demonstrates how much loans cover tuition based on percentage.

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We asked students if they lived on campus:11 responded with yes and 114 responded with

no. This concludes that a grand majority of students either live with their parents, off campus

alone or with others, or live on-campus. Students that live off campus generally pay less money

for rent then those that live on-campus; however, some people afford on-campus housing through

scholarships. Thus, we cant determine based on this question whether students pay an abundant

amount for housing which is another economic burden for students. We can assume that for those

that do pay for rent/housing and will be affected by the proposed cuts, may have to change their

housing situation in the future due to the lack of financial aid. We can see that the proposed cuts

affect different aspects of life of students including students living situation.

This graph shows the number of respondents that are employed:74 responded yes and 51

responded no. This question was asked to see how many people can pay for college and other

expenses, if they use their income for academic purposes. Based on the graph, many students are

unemployed, thus they dont have the security of bringing in money. It is likely that more

students will obtain a job if the proposed cuts will affect them.
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When asked students if they were considered Arizona residents: 111 responded with yes

and 14 responded with no. This concludes that most students pay for in-state tuition, whereas a

small number of students pay a larger amount for out-of-state tuition. Thus, those that are not

Arizona residents are likely to have a harsher financial burden and if they will be affected by the

proposed cuts, then their burden will even more of a burden.

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We concluded that college tuition and fees affect students lives significantly. Thus, for students

who receive Pell Grants, the proposed cuts will take a toll on their economic stability could take

on other factors of their life such as hours of employment hours, change of college due to the

lack of Arizona residency, living situation and number of loans.