If the Bush administration had chosen a different way to revise the Free Application for Federal Student Aid formula, fewer students would have lost all or portions of Pell Grants, a new report suggests.

The report, issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, was sent to Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) last month and released to the public Friday. It says 81,000 students, about 1.5 percent of those receiving grants now, stand to lose their grants next school year, when the change in formula determining eligibility for financial aid takes affect. Another 34.5 percent of those receiving grants will face a reduction in the aid they receive.

This change means $250 million less will be spent by the government on Pell Grants, which are designed to assist lower-income college students. However, the report says the FAFSA changes will have an affect on federal loans as well, meaning families' Expected Family Contributions (EFC) would total $3.2 billion more after the formula change takes affect. Also, 60.8 percent of students would find an increase in their EFC, at an average of $443 per family.

"This confirms the bad news for students," said Rolf Wegenke, president and chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. "Their numbers don't reflect what people are actually paying."

The report also said other approaches to the FAFSA formula would not have cut as much from Pell Grants or cost families as much money.

"They could change (to another methodology), but they haven't shown any inclination to do so," Wegenke said. "It's going to take pressure for change."

Wegenke said the current system was the easiest to follow, but being easiest does not necessarily make it the best.

Dan Goyette, director of financial aid, does not believe the damage to students at Marquette will be significant.

"This is a non-issue for Marquette students," he wrote in an e-mail. "The EFC impact is so minimal relative to total cost of education and size of aid package, that although it would have been nice not to have had this change take place, it is not significant."

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 28 2005.