Dear Friends,
As someone who would not have been able to attend college without the help of student aid programs, I am a strong supporter of Pell Grants. As you may know, in 2008 I included a provision in the Higher Education Opportunity Act to enhance these grants by creating the year-round Pell program. This provision allowed students to use up to two Pell Grants during an award year so they could accelerate their progress towards a degree and in turn incur less debt. Prior to year-round Pell, part-time students were able to receive their Pell Grants throughout the entire year. In many cases however, these students exhausted their maximum Pell Grant before the summer session started, forcing many to take fewer courses than they would have liked to or preventing them from attending summer classes at all. Unfortunately, year-round Pell Grants were eliminated in 2011 due to budget cuts.
According to the Chronicle for Higher Education, more than 800,000 students accessed a second grant to accelerate their academic progress. In addition, community colleges reported that summer enrollment increased by 15% after the Higher Education Opportunity Act was enacted. After visiting schools throughout my district and hearing directly from Iowa students how critical Pell Grants are to their education, I have been working to get year-round Pell Grants reinstated into the Department of Education's annual budget.
Earlier this year, I contacted Secretary Duncan at the U.S. Department of Education to urge him to restore year-round Pell Grants as he works with the President to develop the education budget request for the upcoming year. I know first-hand what a difference education can make in a young person's life, and I firmly believe we must provide students with every opportunity to attend college as affordably as possible. Restoring year-round Pell would allow students to achieve this goal by maximizing their progress towards their degree.
I will continue fighting to ensure that all Iowans have access to quality, affordable education and I welcome any suggestions or concerns about Pell Grants that you may have. Also, feel free to share this email with friends, family and colleagues who may be interested in this topic. I look forward to working with you on this important issue.
Sincerely,
Dave Loebsack
Iowa's Second District
