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Kilili underscores need to defend federal financial aid to students
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) underscored the importance of defending federal student financial aid programs during the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development’s hearing Thursday on affordability and value in American colleges.
Sablan, who is a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said they all benefit from the federal student aid programs that are available to those who qualify and need the programs to move forward and get a good education.
He said one of those programs is the Pell Grant, to which he is a strong supporter because of its importance all throughout the country.
Sablan said he supported increasing the maximum awards of Pell grants twice in the last two years.
He said the Pell grant is very important to the CNMI, where about 1,000 students attend the community college and that it typically covers the tuition.
The delegate expressed concern about what will happen to the students if they were to sort of bear down some of the federal student financial aid programs because the majority Republican colleagues are proposing to make bear cuts to the budget despite the president’s submission of a fiscal year 2023 budget level funding.
“What happens to those students who want to go to school, who should go to school and yet don’t have the resources because we have all these new ideas of how to reduce their funds, the student aid programs,” Sablan told the subcommittee.
In his e-kilili newsletter over the weekend, Sablan said making sure Marianas students have access to high-quality college education has always been one of his top priorities as a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
He said these federal student financial aid programs offer a lifeline to college students in the Marianas and across America, who would otherwise be unable to afford tuition.
“It is critical we keep these federal programs fully funded,” Sablan said.
