The Fairness Test for Student-Aid Cuts

Proposed cuts in the need-based financial aid programs for postsecondary students and actual reduction enacted by Congress have been criticized as unfair. Four concepts of economic justice are applied to Pell grant program reductions. Under a Rawlsian theory of justice, which requires equality in the assignment of basic rights and duties and compensating benefits for the members of society who are worse off, it is concluded that aid to the middle class does not increase the well-being of the worst off. The concept of Nozickian justice supports government aid only as a redress for historical injustice, and it is doubtful that the middle class would qualify. Under the fairness theory, which is based on the concept of envy, it is concluded that, while the program may reduce the number of cases of envy among the poor, this may not dramatically reduce the overall number of cases of envy. Marxian theory holds that the program has no significant effect on social justice. Such conclusions support a policy of reducing aid to middle- and upper-income students, but they cannot be interpreted as promoting cuts in the size of the program.