A nation's investment

Sufficient money to go around for college just isn't there, but the outcry about changes in the Pell Grant program is reactionary. The United States needs its best minds to go to college without hesitation, but changing the formula to use 2002 tax figures instead of 1990 figures will not significantly alter the national picture of higher education funding.\nOnce upon a time, the federal government wrote a formula to figure out how much money it thought you needed from it. In the Pell Grant program, the maximum award is $4,050 per year, even for the neediest students. When the legally required update of the formula goes into effect, an estimated 80,000 students now receiving it could be disqualified, and others will see their grants drop. This situation undoubtedly will cause difficulties and increase the burden on families and students who may not be able to handle it. If the overall budget needs to be expanded for the Pell program, that's a debate for Congress and the nation's higher education community. \nWhen it comes to the actual formula, it is more important to keep the program going so at least some students get help rather than letting the program bleed red ink until it dies. As we all know, the Pell Grant program is hardly the only floundering item in the U.S. budget. Money won't fall out of the sky to the nation's millions of college students or into the Pell Grant program's budget. However, this assertion isn't a free pass for the federal government to continue reducing the help it gives needy students. The indignation stemming from the formula change demonstrates just how tightly families and students have to squeeze their wallets to pay for college. To open opportunities, we, as a society, need to make college a realistic goal for more students. \nGiving more prospective students a chance for college education is not merely some whim supported by teachers associations; rather, an education for every capable student serves as an investment, not only in student's futures but also in the country's future. Of the $12 billion distributed nationwide, IU received $12.8 million this fiscal year for more than 4,600 students receiving Pell Grants. That works out to an average of $2,700 per student, per year, and while every little bit helps, $2,700 just begins to cover room and board alone. \nMaking a decent living and supporting our families will be much more manageable with a degree from IU, and we each will receive a personal return on our investments in education. But returns are not limited to individual students. The United States can build a better future with more refined minds. The Pell Grants do provide a small amount of help, but much more money from various sources should be made available for college. Raw intelligence and ingenuity are commendable, but by training those gifts, they become vastly more useful to individuals, the nation and, indeed, the world.