PAGE 6 — THE DECREE — OCTOBER 18,1996
Election year yields gains in student aid
Student Aid to Colleges and Universities, 1995-96
(In Millions)
Federal Loans
($28,707)
Institutional and
Other Grants
($9,962)
Federal Grants
and Work-Study
($8,657)
State Grant
Programs
($3,021)
Source: The College Board
Here is how the agreement af- • TRIO: Congress agreed to ter (R-Ill.), who chairs the House
By CHARLES DERVARICS
Just weeks before the election.
President Clinton and the Repub
lican-controlled Congress have
approved far-reaching gains in
student financial aid that exceeded
even the most optimistic forecasts
of education advocates.
“The budget we agreed to...
contains the biggest increase in
Pell Grant scholarships in 20
years,” the president said Sept.
30 after the White House and con
gressional leaders reached the end
of marathon negotiating sessions.
The agreement provides a
maximum Pell Grant of $2,700,
an increase of $230 above the cur
rent level. The White House first
proposed the $2,700 level six
months ago in a budget most law
makers called “dead on arrival”
at its introduction.
The figure also is significantly
higher than recent Republican stu-
dent-aid proposals. The House
had proposed a $2,500 grant and
the Senate Republicans countered
with a $2,600 maximum.
Lobbyists attributed the
change to fear that the White
House might provoke another
government shutdown to embar
rass congressional Republicans
just before the election. But GOP
leaders were intent on not allow
ing the president to take credit
for increases in Pell and other pro
grams.
“We’ve increased education
spending off the board,” said Rep.
Randy Cunningham (R-Calif.),
one of a number of lawmakers
who criticized Democrats for tak-
A selection of recent drawings
and paintings from Rocky Mount
artist J. Chris Wilson is now on
exhibit through Dec. 17 in the
Mims Gallery at the Dunn Center
for the Performing Arts.
A free public reception to meet
the artist will be held in the gal
lery next Tuesday at 1 p.m. At
the reception there will also be a
dedication of the acquisition of
Wilson’s recently finished por
trait of Daisy Thorp, Wesleyan
professor emeritus of art.
Wilson is an accomplished and
inventive contemporary realist
painter who occasionally uses
unusual sculptural surfaces in his
portraiture. His 1966 portrait of
Thorp, titled “The Garden House:
ing unfair shots at the GOP on
education.
Overall, the final agreement
contains an additional $3.5 bil
lion for education above the bud
get for fiscal 1996, which expired
Sept. 30.
“If s the best budget that we’ve
had in a long time,” said David
Merkowitz, director of public af
fairs for the American Council
on Education. “We certainly
would hope that this would not
be a one-year wonder.”
Merkowitz, who characterized
the education cuts proposed last
year as “truly Draconian,” cred
ited grassroot student campaigns
for educating members of Con
gress on student aid and making
it an election-year “litmus test is
sue ”
"The overall pictuie on stu
dent aid is overwhelmingly posi
tive. We’ve come a long way
since January 1995,” he said.
Among other student-aid pro
grams, work-study emerged as a
clear winner with an increase of
$213 million, or 34 percent. The
bill provided $830 million for
these programs, which goes a long
way toward meeting a White
House goal of $ 1 billion in fund
ing by the end of the century.
The agreement also dropped a
House plan to terminate new capi
tal contributions for Perkins
Loans, a campus-based program.
The final plan allotted $158 mil
lion, the same as the president’s
request. This amount also is $90
million more than the level floated
in a Senate-proposed compromise
last month.
Daisy Thorp,” is painted on wo
ven paper. His portrait of con
temporary author and Rocky
Mount native Allen Gurganus is
painted on a dimensional wooden
checkerboard panel seven feet
high.
Some of Wilson’s recent still
life paintings with a colorful ki
mono mural have been inspired
by an extended working trip to
Japan that Wilson made with his
wife and daughter in 1994.
Wilson is well known locally
as an exhibiting artist and profes
sor of art at Barton College. He
also has had numerous important
exhibitions in the United States
and abroad. He had a solo exhibi
tion at the Aichi Shukutoku Uni-
fected other higher education pro
grams:
• State Student Incentive
Grants: The pact earmarked $50
million, up significantly from cur
rent funding and earlier GOP
plans. The House originally
wanted to terminate the program,
while the Senate countered with
$13 million.
• Supplemental Educational
Opportunity Grants: The agree
ment provided $583 million, the
same as 1996 funding.
versity in Nagoya, Japan, in 1994.
His work is found ir many
well-known public and private
collections, such as R.J. Reynolds/
Nabisco in Winston-Salem and
Poyner & Spruill at both the law
firm’s Charlotte and Rocky
Mount offices.
Wilson, a longtime friend and
associate of Wesleyan College,
was the restoration director of the
landmark Bellemonte House on
campus.
The Mims Gallery is free and
open to the public weekdays from
2-4 p.m.
Special viewings and addi
tional information are available
by contacting the curator at 985-
5268.
$500 million, up $37 million from
1996 for a program that helps re
cruit disadvantaged students for
college.
• Direct loans: Congress
agreed to a 13 percent increase
for administrative costs needed
to run the program, in which the
government provides loan capital
directly to schools without help
from banks. The White House
originally sought a larger increase,
but the new budget preserves the
program after many Republicans
sought to terminate it during the
past two years.
The budget fell far short of
administration requests in at least
one area, however. The final bud
get did not fund a proposed $130
million Presidential Honors schol
arship program, targeted to high
achieving students. Nonetheless,
lawmakers increased funding for
other federal scholarship pro
grams from $29 million to $39
million for 1997.
Congress and the White House
also agreed to continue the
AmeriCorps national service pro
grams. In a separate bill. Demo
crats and Republicans voted to
continue funding at $402 million,
the same amount as 1996. Some
GOP members sought termina
tion of the program, in which stu
dents earn loan forgiveness or fi
nancial aid in exchange for serv
ing their communities.
Republican leaders praised the
final 1997 budget for upholding
some of its long-term goals. “Stu
dent loans and grants are very
high priority,” said Rep. John Por-
subcommittee that deals with edu
cation spending.
Nonetheless, some hard feel
ings remain, as evidenced by re
marks from Rep. John Kasich (R-
Ohio), chairman of the powerful
House Budget Committee, who
took aim at colleges’ and univer
sities’ financial practices.
The nation should “ask presi
dents of colleges and universities
why their costs are getting out of
control,” Kasich said at a news
conference to draw attention to
GOP support for education.
Kasich also urged parents to
“march over to the [college] ad
ministration office” to question
officials about high budgets for
non-teaching personnel and the
growing number of faculty mem
bers with limited English skills.
Colleges and universities faced
more muted criticism from Rep.
William Goodling (R-Pa.), who
chairs the House Economic and
Educational Opportunities Com
mittee. College costs are up nearly
300 percent during the past 10
years, he said, compared to an 80
percent increase in overall infla
tion.
Goodling and other lawmak
ers plan to make college costs a
key issue in next year’s sched
uled reauthorization of the Higher
Education Act, the federal law
that authorizes most student-aid
and higher-education programs.
President Clinton signed the
measure Sept. 30 to avoid any
chance of a federal shutdown. The
agreement covers the 1997 fiscal
year, which began Oct. 1.
New art exhibit, reception
features Rocky Mount artist