The budget, sent to Congress earlier this week, proposes to raise the maximum yearly Pell Grant from $4,050 to $4,550 over five years. To pay for the increased grants for low-income students, the Bush administration wants to shrink some guaranteed aid to banks and eliminate the popular Perkins Loan program.

According to The Associated Press, Bush's financial-aid plan would cost roughly $28 billion over 10 years, with $19 billion for Pell Grants alone. The budget would raise loan limits from $2,625 to $3,500 for first-year students and $3,500 to $4,500 for sophomores. Those caps haven't changed since 1986, according to AP.

"The [Pell Grant] increases are modest . . . but we nevertheless applaud that because of the rising costs of higher education and stagnant family income," said Dave Feitz, deputy director of Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority. "We obviously would like to see more."

Feitz called the Bush plan "very complex," adding that his office is analyzing the budget to make sure officials understand everything that has been proposed.

That wait-and-see posture in Utah differs from that taken by officials in national higher-education organizations. The groups called the proposed changes in federal aid for college and universities "a mixed blessing for students and their families."

In a joint statement issued this week, presidents of several higher-education associations - including the American Council on Education, the American Association of Community Colleges and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities - said they "strongly support" the president's efforts to boost access to higher education, but they regret that in order "to increase access to higher education for some students, it is necessary to sharply reduce opportunity for many others."

The association presidents also said they were not happy about the administration wanting to eliminate the low-cost Perkins Loans - a fixed-rate loan program administered by each school with money from the Department of Education.

Ending Perkins will weaken the quality of career and technical-education programs at community colleges, the presidents said. Last year, Perkins Loans provided financial help to about 673,000 college students.

But Feitz calls Perkins "a small part" of the overall loan picture.

There are other loans that could replace Perkins, he said. "It's the grants we are most concerned about."

At this point, Bush's budget is just a proposal, said Feitz, adding that he expects lots of opposition. There will be "tremendous debate" in the coming months from both sides of the political aisle, he predicted.

Still, officials in Utah and elsewhere are on the same page when it comes to the dilemma many students face in increasing higher education costs.

"That's why we applaud the increase in the Pell Grant program."

sykes@sltrib.com