Since taking office in January, President Barack Obama has expanded the government's role in financing higher education, including augmenting federal financial aid for low-income students and siphon funds toward campus research.

His proposed 2010 federal budget, passed by Congress on Wednesday, will expand and reform the Pell Grant program, which awards federal aid to low-income students.

The budget calls for an increase in the maximum grant by $500, making the award $5,350. For the first time, that number will also be adjusted each year based on inflation.

More than 50,000 UC students, including 7,500 at UC Berkeley, receive Pell Grants, according to UC officials. UC spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez said the increased Pell Grants are set to bring $33 million more in grant funding to the university next year.

"I think the president sums this up perfectly: This has been an extraordinary year in terms of the financial aid available to students," he said.

Robert Reich, a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy who served as Secretary of Labor under Clinton, said Obama has shown he prioritizes higher education with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, although more could be done.

"The stimulus package has within it an expansion of Pell Grants and also additional funds for higher education," he said in an e-mail. "But much of the stimulus money is still on its way."

Obama's first 100 days also saw an influx of research funding to campus-managed labs under the direction of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, former director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology.

"We are restoring science to its rightful place," Obama said Monday at the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences. "This work begins with a historic commitment to basic science and applied research, from the labs of renowned universities to the proving grounds of innovative companies."

The Lawrence Berkeley lab received $115 million last month in economic stimulus funding, while two UC Berkeley researchers received $30 million for clean energy research from the Department of Energy earlier this week.

In March, Obama also signed an executive order to lift the eight-and-a-half year ban on stem cell research in an effort to free up federal funds for research from organizations like the National Institute of Health.

Lily Mirels, an administrator at the Berkeley Stem Cell Center, which began in 2004, said it is not yet clear how much funding the order will bring in, as guidelines have not yet been established about what kind of stem cell research will be able to receive funding.

"The revised NIH rules are still under consideration and we don't really know what they are. Basically (the order) said a wider variety of embryonic stem cell research should be eligible for federal funding, but we'll see how much actually comes to Cal," she said.

Tags: FINANCIAL AID, STEM CELL RESEARCH, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA