Insert clever joke about Secretary Spelling’s last name here (she’s the one in the middle). (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Renee’ Hannans Henry)

Times are tough for the White House — Iraq is in anarchistic chaos, the Libby scandal continues, and the Democrats control Congress. Good press is hard to come by. But the White House hasn’t forgotten the saying: don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. But in this case, the gift horse is a donkey.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced yesterday afternoon that the 2008 budget will “increase the maximum Pell grant by $550 next year, to a maximum of $4,600.00,” AP reported. “The top grant would climb to $5,400 over five years.” This is a substantial raise from the current maximum Pell grant of $4,050, a slap in the face of a Democratic Congress that tried to pass off weak policy as their promised response to the ever-rising price of higher education.

The House recently passed the College Student Relief Act , which cuts the interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans in half to 3.4 percent over a five year timeframe. It leaves the maximum Pell grant untouched, a detail that especially affects low-income students and has drawn criticism from educators and politicians (not to mention, DP columnists.) That deficiency in the bill left room for a weakened Bush administration to step in, and it did just that.

Regardless of the political calculus, this reform is encouraging for those of us who rely on financial aid– especially low-income applicants. Here at Penn, almost 64 percent of undergraduates receive some form of financial aid, and 40 percent of undergraduates receive need-based grant aid. We so rarely receive good news from this White House, this announcement represents a progressive step towards making a college education affordable. It’s unfortunate that the Democrats only made a half-effort, but to be honest, I don’t care who’s behind the initiative — Republican or Democrat, as long as there’s effective reform.

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