The President's emphasis on elementary and secondary education over higher education has prompted many, like Merkowitz, to call the Bush spending initiatives a "mixed blessing."

Despite the increases called for in areas such as education for the disadvantaged and adult literacy, even the budget's strongest supporters admit that it calls for only minimal increases in--and in some cases, the complete elimination of--post-secondary financial aid programs.

The Bush budget would slash completely the State Student Incentive Grant (SSIG) program--which currently receives approximately $59 million from the federal government--and would eliminate federal contributions to the Perkins Loan Program--which gets about $159 million. In addition, the administration would freeze spending on Supplemental Grants and College Work-Study programs.

Bush has said that both the SSIG and Perkins Loans programs no longer need federal assistance.

Opponents of the President's budget charge that Bush is continuing a trend set by former President Ronald W. Reagan to replace grants with loans as a means of student assistance in higher education.

Although the administration proposes to increase its allotment for Pell Grants to more that $5 billion, critics say that the current budget proposal actually underfunds the grant program.

Merkowitz, who calls the student aid portion of the budget "very disappointing," says much of the increase in funds in Pell Grants will go toward covering last year's shortfalls in this program. Funding for Pell Grants was slashed when the automatic spending cuts mandated by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act came into effect after the budget did not reach its deficit-reduction goals.

Rep. Pat Williams (D-Mont.), chair of the House Post-secondary Education Committee, said in a statement that because more than two-thirds of the increase in Pell Grants will go to cover these shortfalls, very little funding will be used for new grants.

Also, critics of the Bush plan, like the American Council on Higher Education, point out that the administration intends to keep the maximum Pell Grant at $2300 for the third straight year, resulting in an overall nine percent decrease in purchasing power for students.

Williams, who says the average Pell Grant will fall from $1482 this year to $1443 next year, considers the budget "a study in sleight of hand."

Besides the criticism caused by Bush's proposals for Pell Grant spending, the administration's intended reduction of Guaranteed Student Loans by more than $700 million has also prompted skepticism of Bush's commitment to more accessible higher education.

But supporters of the budget justify the reductions in loan programs by relying on a predicted reduction in interest rates this year. Anderson says that the anticipated lower interest rates will allow the government to spend less on loan programs and still provide the same amount of aid.

"I don't think that what we're doing will influence anyone not to go to college," Anderson says. He adds that even if interest rates do not decline as expected, federal law requires the government to compensate students with the needed funds.

But many on Capitol Hill are worried that if extra funds are needed, they will come from cuts in existing programs. While Anderson denies that some programs might be cut, others disagree.

"They will have no choice but to fund [a loan program] from somewhere else" through either a program cut or a supplemental appropriation from Congress, according to Saralee S. Todd, special assistant to Hawkins.