How the stimulus affects students: Financial aid
Angela Hu
President Obama and Congress sure have been busy in the month-plus time they’ve been in office, what with the super nifty new stimulus act being passed on February 17. Some of the act’s much touted provisions relate to personal taxes (to be discussed next week) and making college more affordable. This act, aptly titled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or “stimulus”) of 2009, is incredibly long and dense. Here at The Bottom Line, we skim and Google the relevant parts of it so you don’t have to.
529 Education Savings Plans [PDF]
If your parents had foresight, unlike mine (I still love you, Mom and Dad, despite massive student debt), and set up a 529 education savings plan to help pay for college, the proceeds of these accounts can now be used to pay for computers and associated technology, which wasn’t previously allowed. Eyeballing that new Mac or ThinkPad at Computer Connection? It’s within reach now.
If SFS awards you a Pell Grant as part of your financial aid package, the amount of grant money you receive for 2009-10 could increase by a maximum of $500. The maximum is now up to $5,350. For future years, the maximum amount will increase based on inflation as reported by the consumer price index plus 1%, which is nice of them to adjust to tuition increases every year.
With $200 million more available for federal work-study programs, more students have the potential to be awarded such a grant in the coming academic terms to help pay for college expenses.
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