As promised, President Bush delivered a 2008 Education Department budget proposal on Monday that would increase the maximum Pell Grant to $4,600 in the coming fiscal year and to $5,400 by 2012. And as expected, he proposed doing so partly by reshuffling funds from several other grant programs for low-income students, and partly by further cutting into the profit margins of banks and guarantee agencies in the student loan industry, drawing howls of protest from lobbyists for students and lenders alike.
Office of Strategic Communication