The U.S. Department of Education's proposed budget for the fiscal year 1991 offers no substantial increases in student aid programs despite increases in student costs, a department spokesman said last week.

Robert Evans, University director of financial aid, said any changes in student aid programs will not take effect until the 1991-92 academic year because financial aid is planned for the next academic year. Most of the funding levels are decreases from previous years, Evans said, but this budget is only in the proposal stage and is likely to undergo major changes in Congress.

Based on figures in the U.S. Department of Education's budget document, many of the programs appear to have received increased funding, Evans said. But, he added, closer observation reveals this is not correct.

For example, the funding request for the Pell Grant program for 1991 is $5.27 billion, up nearly $5 million from 1990. However, the amount of money appropriated for the Pell Grant program during 1989 and 1990 was insufficient to finance the program during those years, so the program borrowed almost $4 million from the future.

The 1991 figure includes the additional $4 million. This is money that has already been spent. Therefore, the actual increase in funding for the Pell Grant program is $1.02 million for 1991.

Funding for Work Study and Supplemental Grants has not changed at all from the previous fiscal year and is down from 1989, while the U.S. Department of Education is requesting no new funds for the Perkins Loan program.

The Stafford federal loan program will be affected as well. Evans said the federal department expects a reduction in the funds needed. This expectation of savings is based on proposed legislation which would reform the system.

Proposed reforms noted in the document include a required credit history check for all student applicants over 21, delayed disbursement of all loans to first-time borrowers until after the student's first 30 days of classes and authorization of guarantee agencies, such as the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, to remove money directly from a borrower's wages after graduation, if that borrower has failed to pay back the loan.

"For the '91-'92 academic year, it's premature to say that there will be any cuts or there will be any changes," Evans said. "My judgment is that --given the budget that we've had in the last couple of years for student aid --that some members of Congress are going to find several of these items unacceptable."

Richard Jerue, staff director for the House Post-secondary Education Subcommittee, said it is likely that Congress will give more funding to education than either President Bush or Secretary of Education Lauro Cavazos has requested.

Jerue said a pattern of underfunding education has developed during the past 10 years. President Bush's budget is not much different than a budget from the Reagan era, Jerue added.

Richard Elwell, an information officer for the department's Office of Public Affairs, said the time for debating the budget within the administration is over.

"This is the proposal that will be made to Congress."