Category | News

Stimulus request tops $117 million

Published on March 24, 2009 by Clark Barrow

Low-income college students will receive financial assistance from the economic stimulus bill recently signed into law by Barack Obama, and KSU has scrambled to receive millions of dollars.

According to Shelley Nickel, University System of Georgia (USG) associate vice chancellor for planning and implementation, the stimulus package, titled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), provides students with an increase in financial assistance in three different ways.

“Students will see more funding for Pell grants and work study, as well as tax credits for tuition, fees and books,” said Nickel. “This is significant since these funds will keep students in school, progressing toward degree completion.”

The Pell grant, which provides low-income students with financial assistance, will receive a boost in funding for the next two years. For the 2009-2010 school year, the maximum amount of money a student can receive from the fund will have an increase of $619 for a total of $5,350 per semester. For the 2010-2011 school year, the amount will increase again to $5,550. Nickel said the amount funding each student receives varies, as it is based on the student’s income.

Nickel said the additional funding for the Pell grant will go immediately into the pockets of students for the 2009-2010 term and the second increase will take place on July 1, 2010. The stimulus package aid amounts to an additional $17 billion for the Pell grant program.

The second way the stimulus package will provide assistance to students is through the federal work study program. Nickel said work study programs, which provide low income students with clerical and accounting jobs in a variety of departments on campus, will have its funding doubled to $200 million for the entire work study program in the country.

Nickel said while the additional funds will not cause students to receive more money per hour, it will allow the school to hire more students under the work study program and possibly give them additional hours.

According to Ashok Roy, assistant vice president for financial services, financially eligible students will also receive financial help from an increase in the tax credit for students.

“The Bill includes a $14 billion tax credit that will increase the maximum tax credit per student to $2,500 per year from $1,800 and will for the first time allow students textbooks and tuition,” said Roy.

The increased tax credit is available for students who are claimed as dependents by their parents as well as for those who file independently for the 2009 and 2010 fiscal year.

Roy said the increase in the tax credit will help low income families who do not pay income tax. Families in this tax bracket are only eligible to receive 40 percent of the tax credit, which will provide them with a $1,000 credit in the form of a refund check.

The temporary increase in the tax credit will also be available for incomes of no more than $80,000 for those who file individually and no more than $160,000 for joint incomes.

According to John Anderson, assistant vice president for facilities, in the days immediately after President Obama signed the economic stimulus bill into law, KSU submitted funding requests for a variety of campus projects to the Georgia Office of Planning. As of Feb. 28, KSU had requested $117,777,993 from the stimulus package.

The stimulus package provides funding to states, but it will allow the states to divide up the funds among different state agencies and let the agencies decide how it should be spent. The USG will then be able to apply for the funds from the state agency that specializes in the area the funding is needed.

Anderson said the request includes a variety of different projects, ranging from new buildings to special equipment in the science department. The proposal includes a $22 million request for the expansion, upgrade and renovation of the science building, labs and lab equipment.

“This is something that will actually implement our current master plan for the campus construction,” said Anderson. “We are working to create a lot more facilities for the students and for academic programs.”

Other project proposals include $900,000 to make the science building more energy efficient, which would allow them to replace an old water boiler with two energy efficient boilers and install a system that would capture exhaust fumes from the science labs and use the fumes as energy for the building.

KSU requested $8 million for maintenance related projects around campus and $25 million for a new building to house the Communication Department, titled “The Broadband Training and Citizen Digital Media Lab.”

According to Birgit Wassmuth, Communication Department Chair and professor of Communication, the new building would not only be used by communication majors, but by high school students and elderly citizens who want to advance their digital media skills and stay competitive in the market place.

“We are forwarding our idea in a field that is growing so fast that we can expand our traditional academic offerings to include the underrepresented members of the community,” said Wassmuth.

According to Wassmuth, KSU has requested the funds from the stimulus package for the new building because the school does not have the money to support the project with its current budget. Wassmuth said by using money from the stimulus package, the project would create work for construction workers and builders, and in the long run, possibly create new teaching jobs.