MONEY FOR SOMETHING: FEDERAL EDUCATION GRANTS

Despite the fact that a big portion of federal education grant programs has either been cut or reduced, there are still funds available to students who can qualify. In 1988, almost 17 million undergraduates received some form of aid, whether it was through a loan, a grant or a campus work-study program. The more popular programs include:

PELL: In 1973 this grant was originally named Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG), but in 1986 was renamed after Sen. Claiborn Pell (D-R.I.). Pell was one of the originators of the subcommittee on post-secondary education.

SEOG: Named Educational Opportunity Grant in 1960 and changed in 1973 to Supplemental Educational Oportunity Grant.

PERKINS: In 1957 this loan program was first called the National Defense Education Act, then changed to National Defense Student Loan, later to National Direct Student Loan and finally named for Rep. Carl Perkins (D-Ky.), who chaired the House Education and Labor Committee for many years.

COLLEGE WORK-STUDY: This program is an offshoot of the Works Program Administration (WPA), created during the Depression.

Federal education grants got their impetus in the late 1950s when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite. Governmental concern with the future of American scientific advancement was the operative force behind their creation.

Federal grants are contingent upon a need-basis, although it is advised that everyone should apply, regardless of income. Other variables including family size, expenses, assets and how many members of one’s family are attending college can affect the amount of aid to which a student is entitled.

Listed below are the amounts of federal funds awarded to county students through these four programs. Unless otherwise noted, all amounts are for the 1988-1989 school year.

College School Pell SEOG Perkins Work Study California State $3,825,028 $327,939 $757,239 $435,917 University, Fullerton Chapman College 317,000 122,400 67,500 143,350 Coastline Community College 1,733,653 219,385 177,975 429,834 Cypress College 600,000 69,791 27,726 152,084 Christ College, Irvine 234,000 13,000 ** 29,000 Fullerton College 760,000 45,929 ** *128,816 Pacific Christian College *184,088 14,756 22,900 14,255 Rancho Santiago Colleges *847,484 170,024 40,020 258,023 Saddleback College * 270,287 47,855 70,601 49,175 & Irvine Valley College Southern California ** ** ** 48,230 College of Ophthalmology UCI 4,646,958 480,903 998,486 510,286 Western State University* 13,790 83,745 263,066 217,263

*Fullerton College, Saddleback, Irvine and Western State University based on 1989-1990; Pacific Christian College Pell based on 1987-88; Rancho Santiago College based on 1988-89 up to March 21.

**Fullerton College and Christ College do not receive Perkins Grants; Southern California College of Ophthalmology does not receive Pell, Perkins and SEOG funds.funds

UCI GRANTS AWARDED--1987-88*

Dollars % of Total Amounts Dollars Granting Agency Awarded Awarded Department of Health & Human Services $28,100,758 45.79 National Science Foundation 8,574,584 13.97 Private Agencies/Foundations 8,257,340 13.46 Department of Defense** 4,534,736 7.39 Department of Energy 3,429,436 5.59 University of California 2,620,999 4.27 State of California 2,448,019 3.99 Department of Education 945,034 1.54 NASA 897,607 1.46 Miscellaneous Federal 724,926 1.17 National Endowment for the Humanities 353,874 .58 Local Government 225,873 .37 Environmental Protection Agency 187,750 .31 Veterans Administration 68,225 .11 TOTALS $61,369,161 100

* Most recent information available

** Navy--$3,355,495, 5.47%; Air Force--$1,039,984, 1.69%; Army--$139,257, 0.23%

UCI’S 10 LARGEST FEDERAL GRANTS, 1987-88 * 1. National Science Foundation Reason: Research in neutrino physics, cosmic rays and elementary particles Amount: $2,357,000 2. Department of Defense, Navy Reason: Biomedical studies with the free electron laser Amount: $2,100,000 3. Public Health Service Reason: Coronary heart disease and stroke in people aged 65 to 84 years Amount: $1,878,430 4. Electric Power Research Institute Reason: Altering the environment through the understanding and manipulation of the genetic potential of bacterial communities Amount: $1,062,236 5. Public Health Service Reason: Structure and function of auditory cortex Amount: $951,516 6. Public Health Service Reason: Intervention effects--psychobiological decline in aging Amount: $842,254 7. Public Health Service Reason: Genetics and biochemistry of ribosome biosynthesis Amount: $627,486 8. Public Health Service Reason: Behavioral and neural plasticity in the aged rat (program project supplement) Amount: $625,145 9. National Science Foundation Reason: Software environments supporting the development of reliable concurrent and real-time software Amount: $600,000 10. Department of Defense, Navy Reason: Current extraction in the stellatron. Amount: $505,000 * Most recent information available Source: UCI; Individual colleges