Bush budget would freeze Pell ceiling. (Capitol briefs).

The Bush administration's student aid budget for 2004 would freeze the maximum Pell grant at its current level but provide money to help pay off the program's growing shortfall.

The plan would keep the maximum grant at $4,000, about $500 Short of the level recommended by education groups. However, the administration would spend an extra $1.4 billion to help address a shortfall caused by increased student demand for funds. The U.S. Congress and the White House also provided $1 billion last year to help address this shortfall.

Due to the recession and other factors, the number of students receiving Pell grants increased by nearly 25 percent from 2000 through 2002, the U.S. Department of Education says.

Other aid programs would receive no funding increases, while two small programs lace outright elimination. College work/study and supplemental grants would remain unchanged at $1.1 billion and $725 million, respectively. The administration would provide no new contributions to the Perkins loan program, currently funded at $100 million. It also would terminate Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships, a $67 million program that serves as an incentive for states to provide their own need-based financial aid.

TRIO programs and GEAP, UP early college awareness activities also would be frozen at current funding levels of $802 million and $285 million, respectively.

Another program heavily used by community colleges, Title III-A institutional development aid, would have its budget frozen at $76.3 million. Other sections of Title III that support predominantly black colleges would receive a small increase next year.