With the final version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act set to become law upon its approval by President Obama, education advocates are analyzing the bill’s spending priorities as a litmus test for the new administration’s commitment to higher education.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the costs of the bill—more commonly known as the stimulus package—at upwards of $787 billion over the 2009-2012 period. Included in this package is $14 billon specifically intended to raise the maximum Pell Grant by $400 to $5,250.

Also included in the bill is a $2,500 tax break for four million eligible college students and an increase in student science fellowships.

While the stimulus does include a significant amount of education spending, education advocates are disappointed that education allocations in the current bill had been reduced from the version the House already passed in late January.

“The amendment is a little bit worrying, but it is absolutely necessary that the stimulus bill passes,” said Pedro de la Torre, a senior advocacy associate for Campus Progress, an organization that lobbies on higher education issues.

The education funding in the stimulus package initially caused a significant rift between Democrats and Republicans. Although it appeared Republicans would push to have education funding further cut from the bill, Senate Democrats reached an agreement with moderate Republicans on February 6, which left the Pell Grant allocations completely in tact.

As it stands now, the Stimulus plan provides $88 billion for education, not including the $20 billion for the “K-12/College Construction” that was included in the original proposal.

A campus modernization project fund that would have, in part, helped to ensure that new education buildings were environmentally sustainable was cut from $6 billion in the House version of the bill to $3.5 million in the Senate’s.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been outspoken about her concerns of the cuts that Senate has passed in the stimulus package.

Pelosi was quoted in the Boston Globe saying:

“There are crucial areas, support for higher education, that are things that are in the House bill that are very, very important to the president. Education is fundamental to everything we are trying to do. These cuts are very dangerous. The House package was put together very carefully. I am very much opposed to the cuts proposed in the Senate.”

At a rally in Elkhart, Indiana last Monday, President Obama said that the country needs a skilled workforce and that the stimulus package should have more money slated towards education.

“I’ll be honest with you,” he said, “the Senate version cut a lot of these education dollars. I would like to see some of them restored.”

While this bill is not the ideal outcome for students and education advocates, de la Torre said Obama’s ardent support for education in the beginning months of his presidency is promising.

“It really is promising that Obama and his education secretary have both come out in favor of really investing in higher education,” de la Torre said.

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