The topic of the article I chose as said in the title was The Pell Grant. The Pell Grant is a grant that was made 50 years ago with the purpose to help students in a lower income family be able to pay for college. It actually marked its 50th anniversary this past June. The people who spoke in this article were Code Switch podcasters Karen Grigsby Gates, and Gene Demby. While talking about the anniversary of the Pell Grant, they also talked about their views on it. Karen mentioned that she thought the Pell Grant was something great and very convenient for many families today. She touched on the fact that she went to school a long time ago when college was definitely not as expensive as it is today, so she thinks the Pell Grant is a great resource for battling the huge college bills of today. Gene on the other hand said that he just finished paying off his student loans, so he also believes that the Pell Grant is something very valuable and useful these days.
The issue of college was presented rather fairly in this article. Karen and Gene talked about the “broken system” and how when the Pell Grant idea was being pitched, many politicians thought that it would be spoiling the poor students with its “free money”. They also mentioned however how there are plenty of students who struggle paying for college and sometimes didn’t even go to college because of its high costs. My personal previous viewpoint that everyone should be able to have the choice to go to college without worrying about the cost was even brought up and I still stand by it. Since its creation, the Pell Grant has helped more than 80 million students go to college and is continuing the help today.
I strongly agree with the idea that students should be able to have accessible college and not over priced tuitions. Although I can also see why politicians can see this as giving away free money because if we see more and more people of this generation just drop out of college or high school, with this being said we can see how its a waste of money and also can be seen as a gamble on the government as they gamble on you wether or not your gonna put the money they gave you for your education. If not then you can see how they see it as free money as they are technically throwing it away from a potential provider for tomorrows future. I have also dwelled on the fact that maybe college should be payed by the students as I believe schools would be more focused on giving the students the very best education as they are personally paying for it, maybe its just because I believe that everything should be worked for and gained, not just be thrown at you like its nothing special.
I agree that The Pell Grant appears to be beneficial, since like you said, everyone should be able to get their education if they want to without worrying about the cost. And as for the concern of some politicians that this grant would be spent on something other than education, it is a gamble. Of course not everyone will use money given to them for their education, but it is important that the money is accessible to those who will, and that these people know that their struggles are being recognized.
I agree that the Pell Grant is a great tool for low-income students. Everybody should have the same opportunity to go to college. Even if there might be a decrease in people going to college it should still be accessible for low-income students.