Hartle: Trump Education Budget an ‘Assault on College Affordability’

Iris Palmer was quoted in Diverse Issues in Higher Education on the leaked Trump education budget's proposed cuts to Federal Work Study.

While a number of reports have suggested that Federal Work Study too often favors expensive institutions with few low income students, cutting the program’s funding in half is not the solution, said Iris Palmer, senior policy analyst for the education policy program at New America, a public policy think tank. 

“I think because the evidence on (work-study) program says it helps low-income students persist and graduate better, I think there’s an argument to put more money into it if it’s allocated appropriately across higher education,” Palmer said. “Unfortunately, when you propose cutting it in half, any conversation around reorganizing the formula gets drowned out.”

Palmer was also critical of the budget because it “doesn’t really seem to have an overarching feeling or perspective or strategy,” although — in fairness — her remarks, like others, were based on a description of the budget, not the actual budget document itself.