Students applying to college this year might find it slightly more difficult to secure adequate financial aid — although prospective Northwestern students should be relatively unaffected, officials said.

The federal budget for the 2004 fiscal year, passed by Congress last Friday, allocated roughly the same amount of money for Federal Pell Grants this year as it has for the past three years, even though tuition has been rising. The move led officials to suggest that some students might reconsider attending college due to the increasing cost of post-secondary education.

President Bush is expected to sign the bill today.

The maximum Pell Grant a student can receive — $4,050 this academic year — has remained steady, increasing by only $50 every year since 2002. But if inflation is considered, the value of the grant has decreased since the late 1970s. Because college costs have increased each year, Pell Grants now cover a smaller percentage of costs.

“When (Pell Grants) were first created, their purchasing power was relatively high,” said Jim Boyle, president of College Parents For America. “Now, it’s much lower.”

The steady maximum rate could have a negative impact on students currently applying to college, said Rebecca Dixon, NU’s associate provost for university enrollment.

The impact will be felt primarily among students whose decision to attend college depends heavily on how much financial aid they will receive. But for the average NU student, the rate should have little effect, she said.

“We meet the full need of students,” Dixon said. “Our students are not going to be harmed by the lack of change in the Pell Grant program.”

Dixon said students who require aid will receive the funds not covered by Pell Grants from NU-funded assistance plans, such as the work-study program, student loans and grants.

Pell Grants fund a relatively small percentage of education costs. Even if a student received the maximum Pell Grant, the aid would only account for about 16 percent of the cost of education at a private, four-year university, according to the American Council on Education.

Still, the lack of Pell Grant increases could negatively affect the university, Dixon said.

“The fact that the Pell has not kept pace with the cost of college (means that) students have to borrow more, and the university has to give more,” she said. “Northwestern would have to spread its … funds over more students or more thinly.”

Under another provision of the new spending plan, the U.S. Department of Education will continue to use 1988 state tax tables — rather than change to the 2000 rates — as part of a formula to calculate a college applicant’s financial need.

Tax rates in 2000 were lower than those in 1988, meaning parents would have more money to contribute to their students’ education if the rates had been updated. That would lead to fewer Pell Grants.

But since 2000 the sluggish economy has caused many states to kick up the tax rates –meaning the amount families are able to pay now is less than what 2000 tax rates would indicate.

If the tax rates had changed, about 84,000 students who normally would receive the grant would be left without it, according to a June 25 report by the Congressional Research Service.