Lowest-Income Students Need More Pell Aid, Authors of New Report Find
To help low-income students attend college, larger Pell Grants should be awarded to the most “financially needy” college students, according to a new report (“Window of Opportunity: Targeting Federal Grant Aid to Students With the Lowest Incomes”).
In the report, researchers from the Institute For Higher Education Policy urged lawmakers to increase Pell Grant aid by up to $750 for students who have an expected family contribution (or EFC) that is a negative number. Currently, such students are awarded the same Pell amount as students whose EFC is zero.
The report’s authors concluded that raising the minimum and maximum Pell Grant awards could provide additional aid to the neediest students while ensuring that students with family incomes bordering the eligibility cutoff do not lose their awards.
The proposal to raise Pell Grant awards is gaining traction in the U.S. Senate, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Report Calls for Directing Federal Aid to Neediest Students,” April 28, 2008).
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is backing a proposed measure to boost Pell aid to the lowest-income students as part of a broader bill aimed at dealing with the effects of the credit crunch on the student loan industry.
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