Budget proposal cuts LEAP funds

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By Jany Kim
Daily Bruin Contributor

Students receiving financial aid can expect to lose funding of
$10.2 million in California and $67 million in federal funding
nationwide if Congress approves President Bush’s budget
proposal for 2003.

Bush’s proposal cuts funding for the Leveraging
Educational Assistance Partnership from the federal budget. Funding
from LEAP accounts for $10.2 million of the $600 million put toward
student aid in California, according to the California Student Aid
Commission.

Eliminating LEAP funding is equivalent to taking away 3,000
student aid awards of $3,500 each, according to Lisa Fuller,
federal legislative liaison for CSAC.

The CSAC plans to write Congressional members to advocate for
LEAP and to prevent the program from being cut from the federal
budget. In the past, advocacy efforts through lobbying and student
groups have proved successful in saving LEAP, Fuller said.

“I encourage students to call or fax their representatives
in both the House and the Senate, since this is often a very
effective method of advocating for federal programs,” Fuller
said.

Currently, according to Fuller, it is hard to determine whether
LEAP will be eliminated since it is early in the budget
process.

“In fact, the president’s proposed budget is more of
a “˜blueprint’ for Congress to follow, but they are not
bound to the president’s request,” she said.

The most critical debates over the exclusion of LEAP from the
2003 budget will take place from now until October, said Jim
Garcia, chief of the National Association of State Student Grant
and Aid Programs.

The 2003 fiscal year begins Oct. 1, 2002.

LEAP is a federal-state-institutional-student partnership that
generates student financial aid by matching state funding for every
federal dollar to go directly to student aid without administrative
fees. Most states contribute at a higher ratio than 1:1.

In the 2002 fiscal year, $67 million of federal funding for LEAP
yielded $171 million in matched funding by states available to
students. Since the last federal budget, funding for LEAP has seen
an increase of $12 million ““ from $55 million in 2001.

According to Fuller, the loss of $10.2 million in California
will not be so much targeted at schools in particular, since LEAP
funds are not allocated through a specific LEAP grant but are
“thrown into a pot” and distributed through Cal Grant
awards and work-study programs statewide.

Therefore, it is difficult to determine how great an impact the
loss of LEAP funding will have on students in California, Fuller
said.

The California Department of Finance can cover the $10.2 million
normally generated by LEAP through the state’s budget if it
gains the approval of Gov. Gray Davis, Garcia said.

If the state is able to compensate for the loss of LEAP funding,
students would not be affected.

Garcia stressed that need-based student aid programs be
prioritized for education.

Another option is to reduce each student’s Cal Grant award
package, he said.

Approximately 8,000 undergraduate students at UCLA are
benefitting from Cal Grant awards, according to Anh Vuong, an
assistant at the UCLA Financial Aid Office. If the state budget
fails to compensate for lost LEAP funds, these students will be
affected financially.

The elimination of LEAP and the possible reduction of financial
aid packages raise concern for students who rely on financial aid
to attend UCLA.

“It makes me feel a little uneasy,” said first-year
English student Pedro Gomez.