When people apply for TANF?

Pell grants: not the same as TANF, WIC, etc...agree or disagree?

• I got into an Internet argument on the topic of Pell grants. I tried to explain to the other posters why I accepted a Pell grant, but complain about TANF, WIC, Medicaid, and many other social welfare programs. I would like to get a third opinion on this subject. My argument is that Pell grants generate real economic returns and tax revenues which pay back far more money than the initial "handout." My argument against other welfare programs is that they are too easily abused, and in practice pay people to NOT seek employment and higher education. The other people have argued that "it's still welfare!" They consider me a hypocrite for explicitly supporting and taking Pell grants while belittling other welfare programs, and they have ignored my explanation of why Pell grants are different. They have not responded to my point that Pell grants generate more long-term tax revenue, and consider it an "excuse" for me, the "hypocrite" who's getting a Pell grant. They have also taken a philosophical statement I made about how welfare is not something the government should be engaging in and tried to restate it out of a Libertarian philosophical context and present it as my position on the current state of social welfare today. What do you think? Answer LOGICALLY, not EMOTIONALLY or PHILOSOPHICALLY, and remember it's not about me, it's about my claim that Pell grants are different from other social welfare and why I say they are different.

• Answer:

  As a normal everyday tax payer, I would feel better about paying taxes to contribute to pell grants than any welfare program. I view it this way, welfare is a crutch, pell grants are a bridge. Pell grants are investing in the future of our country. It gives the average or under average wage earner a fair chance to prove what they have to contribute to the American know how. Anyone that argues this point is obviously spoiled by an already existing source of funds or just pure greed.