Campus News

Around Academe Oct. 6, 2008

Increase in funds for Pell Grants likely to surpass 40 percent
To meet its promise of a better per-student benefit, Congress may have to bolster the Pell Grant program, which funds higher education for low-income students, by more than 40 percent, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Increased enrollment and harsher economic conditions are contributing to the more than $6 billion price tag, bringing the total the U.S. Education Department plans to spend on Pell Grants to $20.1 billion for fiscal year 2009.

Alabama board votes to bar illegal immigrants from two-year colleges
Illegal immigrants are officially banned from Alabama’s public two-year colleges following a 4-0 vote from the State Board of Education, the Associated Press reported.

The vote, which also included one abstention and occurred when three other members and the president were absent, came on the heels of a similar decision in North Carolina that bars illegal immigrants from enrolling in any of the state’s 58 community colleges