Pacific’s Response to a Changing Education & Financial Aid Climate
Photo provided by Mario Gutierrez
How Pacific Plans to Help After Anticipated Deterioration of the Department of Education
**Disclaimer: The Pacifican does not support either political party. We want to keep a neutral view to provide information to our fellow students.
The tension between the Democratic and Republican parties over the Department of Education (DOE) has been a fight since the Department’s establishment in 1980. With the upcoming Trump Administration planning to dissolve the Department of Education (DOE), students across the country are in distress. However, the dissolving process may or may not take longer than the Trump Administration anticipates. The British Public Service Broadcaster (BBC) explores how the Department Of Education’s abolishment could not even take place. “A vote last year to abolish the education department - which was attached as an amendment to another bill - failed to pass as 60 Republicans joined all Democrats in the House to vote no. So Trump's pledge could turn out to be largely symbolic,” stated Ana Faguy of the British Broadcasting Channel. This uncertainty is caused by the size of the DOE along with the amount of policies they have established. In addition, dissolving the DOE would mean transferring the power of legislation surrounding the topic of education back to the states. Nevertheless, from student to student, I understand the concerns with student well-being above all.
The University of the Pacific does not take any stance on whether or not the dissolvement is beneficial or not. So I interviewed our school’s Vice President, Christopher P. Ferguson, regarding any opinions about the dissolvement and how the University of the Pacific plans on helping their students. When asked about the University of the Pacific’s opinion on the topic of the dissolvement, Vice President Fergusonstated, “We don’t take a position on that.”
The University of the Pacific’s administration wants to spread information about their financial support so students will not be in distress over the issue. “We’ve redesigned our financial aid office over the last couple of years to elevate financial wellness,” Vice President Christopher P. Ferguson says. Whether students are instate or out-of-state residents, the school offers balanced merit-based and need-based financial aid packages for students. We explored this topic with Vice President Christopher P. Ferguson and he had this to say: “The university is committed to offering a balanced merit-based and need-based financial package based on, you know, family’s financial situation – healthy supportive balance to help families.” The school ideally wants people to meet with financial aid or administration about any problems with financing their college experience.
There are a couple of ideas that may be beneficial to you, fellow students, based on this news. First, you should fill out the FASFA and financial aid as soon as possible. Secondly, stay calm because it is very uncertain if the Department of Education will actually dissolve at all under Donald Trump’s administration. The dispute over the DOE’s existence has been an ongoing fight since the 1980’s and the possibility of dissolvement is unlikely.