Fawn Johnson reported in Government Executive last week that the new budget proposed by President Obama puts the focus on college affordability and higher education accessibility. The proposal increases the Education Department’s funding by 2.4 percent, a total of $1.7 billion. This includes an $85 increase to the maximum Pell Grant amounts in 2014-2015 and freezing Pell Grant interest rates at 3.4 percent.
Further, on Monday, Obama announced the Community College to Career Fund, which would provide a large capital injection of $8 billion over three years to increase the linkages between community colleges and local businesses in high-demand industries.
Justin Draeger, the President of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, told Inside Higher Ed that Obama’s focus on accessibility was reputable, but creating strings of red tape.
