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The democrats in the senate, led by Senator Tom Harkin, said that they will keep on fighting against any kind of cuts in the Pell Grant program. It has been admitted by the Obama administration that spending for this federal program has increased so much that it is impossible to maintain. In the administration’s budget proposal of 2012 for the education department, the growth of the program was called as fast as well as unsustainable. However, despite of these numbers and the proposals by the Republicans for big cuts in the program, on Monday Senator Harkin said that the program should be protected from any kind of reductions.

According to Mr. Harkin any kind of reduction in the program of Pell Grant will be harmful for the country. He told the Washington Post that when tough decisions about the budget are required then the Congress should increase the taxes and reduce the spending somewhere else. The administration must keep on making investments in the field of education. Last month it was projected by Arne Duncan, the education secretary that this federal program, which was designed for helping the students from the low income families to afford college, might face a shortfall of 20 billion dollars in 2012. In the past years there have been some annual deficits.

For example the stimulus plan of President Obama in 2009 poured in 15.6 million dollars into the Pell Grants program. Last year a bill for reworking the healthcare plan of the administration dumped in 13.5 billion dollars. According to the budget office of the Congress this program had a shortfall of 8.6 billion dollars. In the budget of 2012, the administration wants 41.2 billion dollars for keeping the Pell Grants at a maximum of $5,550 for every student. The Republicans in the House voted in favor of reducing it to $4,015 for every student.

However it seems that the Republicans are ready to fight. On Monday Michael Enzi, the Republican senator from Wyoming demanded systemic changes in the Pell Grant program. The Republicans in the House are also pushing for the reforms. Several changes have been proposed by the administration for saving the program. They want to eliminate the interest subsidies given to the professional students and graduates. This will save about 2.2 billion dollars in 2012 and about 32.9 billion dollars in the ten years. The administration also hopes to eliminate the provision of two Pells, under which some students receive two grants in the same year.

It is believed by the outside scholars, the remedies proposed by the administration are window dressing. According to them, it would not save money but push back the graduations. This plan of the administration to save money can make some of the best students stop completing their college before four years as they have to pay their third semester fees without any help from the government. The price of the program is increasing due to the skyrocketing cost of education in the colleges. The finding of Pell Grant has increased by about 480 % since 1980.