FY 2005 Funding
Includes Federal Education and Health Professions Programs

Graduate Psychology Education Program – Despite the very tough budget battles, APA Education staff succeeded in maintaining funding for the Graduate Psychology Education Program (U.S. Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration). While other programs were reduced or even eliminated, GPE maintained level-funded at $4.5 million. In fact, most of the Title VII Health Professions Programs were level-funded except for Primary Care Medical and Dental, which received an increase of over 8% (for a total of $88.8 million) to compensate for the significant cut (11.5%) it sustained last year. The Title VII Nursing Programs once again received an increase (at 6 %) and is now at $150.6 million to address the shortage of nurses.

New Campus Mental Health Program – In October President Bush signed into law the Garrett-Lee-Smith Memorial Act, which incorporated a number of provisions from the APA's proposed Campus Care and Counseling Act (A dministered by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration). While legislative authority was gained for the campus mental health component, unfortunately no funds were designated for this purpose. APA supports the efforts of the bill sponsors who are sending a letter to the SAMHSA Administrator requesting that $1 million of the $7 million for the state grant youth suicide prevention program be used for the campus mental health program. Nevertheless, APA will advocate for funding during the FY2006 appropriations process.

National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program – The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) received a 22.6% reduction in the FY2005 budget. However, this is not expected to result in less support for health professions because of provisions contained within the corporate tax relief bill (i.e., the bill makes financial support from the NHSC Programs tax exempt). As a result, the NHSC will no longer need to provide payments to cover the taxes. There are over 1,100 mental health professional shortage areas and interested psychologists should apply.

Higher Education Programs – Most of the Higher Education Programs received flat-funding, including: the Work Study Program, Perkins Loan Repayment, Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need and the Javits Fellowship Program. Only the Pell Grant Program received an increase of $458 million, with the maximum grant remaining at $4,050 for the third year.

Elementary and Secondary School Programs – Although the Federal Education Programs overall will receive the smallest increase in a decade, the elementary and secondary education programs fared better in the appropriations process than did the higher education programs. The Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program increased from $33.8 million to $35 million, and the Alcohol Abuse Reduction Program increased from $29.8 million to $ 33 million. (However, the Safe and Drug Free Program was flat-funded at $440.9 million.) No Child Left Behind (Title I) increased from $12.3 billion to $12.8 billion and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act increased from $11.2 billion to $11.8 billion. The Institute for Education Studies (educational research) increased from $$496.7 million to $ 527.7 million.

FY2005 Elementary and Secondary School Programs Table

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