Bush budget doesn’t support students
In Udeitha Srimushnam’s Feb. 6 article (“Bush proposes increase to Pell Grants”), the author failed to mention several federal grant programs that are being cut by President Bush’s budget.
Most notable are his cuts to the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant and to the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership.
Bush’s current budget proposes to completely eliminate both these programs.
SEOG is a federal grant match program in which, for every 25 cents a university issues a student in grant money, the federal government puts another 75 cents towards that student’s financial aid.
LEAP is a federal-to-state grant match program. For every dollar the state contributes to a student’s grant, the federal government will match another dollar. The Cal Grant is an example of a LEAP grant that’s in danger of being curtailed.
President Bush is also proposing to eliminate the Perkins Loan, which is a loan issued to low-income students with a low, fixed interest rate.
Students cannot take these cuts unknowingly, which is why the United States Student Association has launched their 100 Day Agenda to Reprioritize Higher Education.
The Undergraduate Student Association Council’s Offices of the External Vice President, Internal Vice President and General Representative 1 have all signed on to engage the student body in the fight to ensure that UCLA is affordable and accessible to every student who deserves to attend.
Carlos Saucedo
Fourth-year,
political science and public affairs
USAC general representative