In the Clinton Administration's proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2000-01, basic academic research and student financial aid programs were among the biggest beneficiaries. In fact, the news was so positive on these fronts that unofficial word and funding levels began to filter out weeks before the official submission of the proposed budget to Congress Feb. 7.
According to Donald Saleh, dean of admissions and financial aid at Cornell, proposals to enhance federal student financial aid programs and to provide tax relief to them or their families is a welcome sign that higher education was being more clearly recognized as the critical element in molding the next generation of American workers and leaders.
"The proposed budget addresses two important components of the higher education financing dilemma that U.S. families face," Saleh said. "First, it strengthens the long-term commitment to access that the federal government has made. Increases to need-based financial aid programs like the Pell Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) and the Federal Work Study programs assure that low-income students will continue to have federal help in meeting college costs. Second, the expansion of tax relief programs is very important to the many families that do not qualify for most need-based aid funds but are under real strain in paying tuition bills. The tax relief makes the real cost of tuition much more manageable. Cornell families will benefit greatly from both aspects of the president's proposal."
Robert C. Richardson, Nobel laureate and vice-provost for research, who also serves on the National Science Board, was encouraged by the president's proposed budget for science and technology. "Major increases in research dollars for the chief science agencies, such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and for the cross-cutting initiatives in nanotechnology, information technology and bioproducts were certainly justifiable, so the proposed budget numbers were indeed welcomed," said Richardson. "Expanded federal support in these areas, should it materialize, would prompt strong competition from faculty around the nation, and one would expect Cornell faculty to compete very well."
In the view of Henrik N. Dullea, vice-president for university relations, the administration's fiscal 2001 budget proposal is perhaps the most upbeat budget submission for higher education in years.
"As far as starting points go, this proposed budget is much better than several in the 1990s, which had to address the issues of closing the federal deficit and spending caps," Dullea said. "The president clearly feels that those limitations need to be set aside in favor of investing in education, science and technology -- investments that Mr. Clinton has likened to the engines of our nation's prosperity and leadership in so many areas. We hope that the Congress will see it the same way, and we will advise our representatives accordingly."
The Federal Work Study Program appropriation would top $1 billion for the first time, and help maintain the over 1 million students who work to help pay for their education. Cornell has some 3,800 students enrolled in this program. The Gear Up Program, which encourages elementary school students to stay in school and enter college, would receive a 63 percent increase. Overseas programs (Fulbright-Hays) would receive a major (50 percent) increase in support.
Not all the budget news on federal student aid was as positive, however. The LEAP (Leveraging Education Assistance Partnership) Program, which is designed to encourage states to expand state higher education support efforts (like New York's Tuition Assistance Program), was only level-funded. Federal contributions to the Perkins Loan Program and Graduate Education programs, such as Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) scholarships, were also level-funded.
On the tax relief side of student aid, the budget calls for allowing taxpayers to choose between a tax deduction or a 28 percent tax credit on up to $10,000 in educational tuition by the year 2003, resulting in a tax relief maximum of $2,800 annually. Income eligibility ceilings for full or partial benefits under the plan would be raised to $60,000 for individual tax filers and $120,000 for joint filers.
Lastly, the administration's educational tax relief plan would expand the tax-free status of employer-provided educational assistance to include graduate courses within Section 127 of the tax code and would increase the tax deductibility of student loan interest beyond the present 60-month limit.
NIH would receive a modest 6 percent increase under the administration's budget plan, which, because NIH is the largest single federal research sponsor, amounts to a $1 billion hike. This increase is most likely to be improved upon by Congress, which has favored NIH with recent annual funding increases in the 10 to 15 percent range. NIH is Cornell's leading research sponsor, supporting over $105 million in research efforts in 1998-99, predominantly conducted at the Weill Cornell Medical College and the College of Veterinary Medicine.
With only a 3 percent increase offered for its research and development programs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture did not enjoy the same major proposed gains experienced by the other research agencies. However, several components of USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), which administers all land grant university-based programs, gained encouraging support from the administration. The National Research Initiative account was slated to receive a 26 percent increase, up to $150 million, and a new competitive account for integrated research and extension activities would be almost doubled, to $76 million.
But the biggest improvement, should the president get his way, would be full funding of two recent competitive programs within CSREES: the Fund for Rural America, proposed to receive $60 million (of which one-third would be devoted to research, education and extension), and the $120 million Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems. As a pre-eminent land grant institution, Cornell receives approximately $25 million annually in support from USDA, and its faculty and extension staff would be expected to compete successfully for any new pools of support created within that agency.
As for other agencies that historically sponsored significant shares of Cornell research activity, science accounts within the Department of Energy would rise by 12 percent, and within NASA would improve by 9 percent. The Defense Department's research and development accounts would be level-funded, although the traditional basic research account (known as 6.1) that supports much university activity would receive a modest 5 percent increase. The Environmental Protection Agency research budget would rise by 14 percent, and funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is one of the few federal agencies supporting research, cultural preservation and education in the human disciplines, would receive a significant (30 percent) increase in its budget.
Lastly, other cross-agency initiatives were advanced in the Clinton fiscal 2000-2001 budget proposal and hold promise of support for Cornell faculty during the next fiscal year:
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