By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – The Alabama Commission on Higher Education is planning to ask lawmakers to increase spending for need-based financial aid to students of public colleges. The commission wants the state legislature to more than triple the amount currently offered, and the group is recommending cutting grants to private school students to pay for it. Commission Chairman Danny Patterson says the state needs to help those students who are struggling to pay for college. The commission is requesting another two-point-seven million dollars. That money also could be matched with federal funds. Virginia Bugg, president of the Alabama Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, says she favors more need-based aid. But, she says grants given to students attending private schools should not be cut.