HARRISBURG (TNS) — Hoping to maintain the maximum state grant for college students at the record-high $5,750 award will require an increased investment from the commonwealth next year.
The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency on Thursday unanimously approved a $370.8 million appropriation request for the state grant program that serves low- and lower middle-income students. That represents an 11.9% increase from this year’s $331.4 million allotment in the state budget.
The grants, which do not require repayment, serves more than 106,000 college students who mostly attend Pennsylvania higher education institutions, which are among the nation’s costliest, according to a report by Self Financial.
PHEAA administers the program for the state. It pays for the administrative costs with money it generates from its various student financial aid business lines, keeping the full amount of funding from the state budget for the grants themselves.
The size of the need-based award a student receives is determined by their family income and related circumstances as well as the cost of the school they attend.
PHEAA’s board also approved requests for a 2.5% increase in funding for the other smaller higher education assistance programs it administers.
As part of the state budgeting process, agencies who seek funding in the general fund budget make their appropriation requests known in the fall so that it can be considered when the governor develops a budget proposal for the next fiscal year.
Gov. Tom Wolf is barred by the state constitution from seeking re-election to a third term. So the next governor, who will be elected in November, will be charged with developing a proposed 2023-24 budget that will be released in March.
Sen. Art Haywood, D- Philadelphia, who chairs the PHEAA board’s needs analysis and aid coordination committee, said the committee wants to maintain the maximum grant award at its current level and is hoping the next governor shares that goal.
Rep. Mike Peifer, R- Pike County, who chairs PHEAA’s board, agreed that all board members need to impress on the next governor that funding for these grants needs to be a priority.
“We think this initiative is a noble initiative and something we feel strongly about,” he said.
Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R- York County, questioned whether the commonwealth will be able to afford the sizable increase for the grant program given the state’s Independent Fiscal Office’s projection that revenue collections this year could fall nearly $6 billion from last year due to the loss of federal funds.
“It’s a long way away,” Peifer said, referring to the 2023-24 budget adoption which typically is to be finalized by June 30. “But it does give them a template for what they need to budget when the budget address comes out.”
Phillips-Hill responded, “I certainly hope that higher education will hold down the cost that students have to pay.”
