Education

Democrats Reintroduce Bill To Double The Pell Grant


Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Representatives Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), chairman of the House Education & Labor Committee, have reintroduced the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act.

The legislation, if it became law, would bring about several changes that higher education advocates and many Democrat policy makers, including President Joe Biden, have been championing for some time. It would:

  • double the Pell Grant award and index it to inflation,
  • make funding of the the Pell Grant fully mandatory to protect it from funding shortfalls,
  • set the minimum award level at 5% of the maximum, which would enable part-time students to access Pell funds,
  • expand the program to include DREAMers, and
  • restore lifetime eligibility for the program to 18 semesters rather than the 12 that’s now allowed.

The full text of the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act bill, a version of which had been introduced in the 115th Congress, is available here. And a bill summary can be found here.

First authorized via the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant was implemented in 1972. The program was renamed in 1980 for Senator Claiborne Pell in honor of his efforts to create it.

Pell grants remain the major federal financial aid program for lower-income students. They are intended to assure that every student, regardless of financial circumstances, can afford to obtain a college education. Today, the Pell Grant program serves more than 6.7 million students, or about 40% of all undergraduates.

Despite efforts to have Pell Grant awards keep up with inflation, they have fallen behind the increasing costs of higher eduction. At one time, the maximum Pell Grant covered more than three-quarters of the price of attending a four-year public college. Today, that value has slipped to the point that it covers less than one-third of that price.

For 2021-2022, the maximum Pell Grant is scheduled to be $6,495. Under the language of the bill, the maximum Pell award would be set at $9,000 for 2023-24. It would then ramp up by $1,000 per year until reaching a maximum award level of $13,000 in 2027-2028. After that, the annual amount would be adjusted by a percentage increase equal to the Consumer Price Index increase.

Another change sure to stir debate is the provision that would extend Pell eligibility to DREAMers, those undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, who have lived and gone to school here, and many of whom identify as Americans.

“It’s thanks to Pell grants that I was able to graduate and get a great education from Washington State University—but today’s students are being asked to pay more for college with less financial support. Students should never be forced to give up their higher education dreams because they can’t afford it—and this legislation will take a significant step in helping to make sure college is within reach for more students,” said Senator Murray. “I’m proud to introduce the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act alongside my colleagues, and I’ll be working hard to get this across the finish line and ensure that every student—no matter how much money their family makes—has the opportunity to succeed.”

In addition to Senators Murray and Hirono, the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act is co-sponsored by sixteen Democrat senators. On the House side, in addition to Representatives Pocan and Scott, more than 50 Democrats have signed on as co-sponsors.

The bill has received endorsements from dozens of higher eduction organizations and advocacy groups, including heavyweights such as the:

  • American Association of University Professors (AAUP),
  • National Education Association (NEA),
  • State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO),
  • Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF),
  • American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU),
  • American Association of Community Colleges (AACC),
  • National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU),
  • National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), American Council on Education (ACE),
  • Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE),
  • Association of American Universities (AAU),
  • Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU),
  • The Education Trust.

With continuing debate about the best way to ensure the affordability of college, doubling the Pell Grant enjoys considerable support by some policy makers as preferable to the other main alternative proposed by many Democrats – offering free college so that students would pay no tuition when they attend the first two years – or in some cases – four years at a public college.

For example, the argument has been made that doubling the Pell award is a better approach because it is a particularly “well-targeted policy that will close the affordability gap for lower-income students, leading more of them to enroll.” Free College is less desirable because it would likely cost much more and provide extensive benefits to higher-income students, who could afford to enroll in college without financial aid. Another advantage is the practical one that the apparatus for administering Pell awards already exists, albeit in a form that clearly needs streamlining. Whether such considerations will be sufficient to gain any Republican support for the bill remains an open question.



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