Pell Grants

One tidbit hidden in the giant omnibus bill was the Pell Grant program, our biggest and most well-known program to help make college affordable for low-income students. While most of the debate has focused on a proposed change in the way student financial aid eligibility is calculated (which is pretty difficult to understand), discussion about this particular calculation masks the real issue: we aren't providing enough Pell Grants, or enough money in each grant, to significantly impact the problem of college access for low-income students.

For the third year in a row, Congress has frozen the maximum amount any student can receive through the Pell program at just over $4,000 a year. While those of you as old as I am (or older) may think this sounds pretty sweet, undergraduate tuition itself is running about $7,000 a year at many state institutions around the country--tack on books and lab fees, room and board, the cost of a computer that no college student can do without, and you're easily over $10,000 annually, even at the most affordable of colleges. 25 years ago, Pell Grants covered 84 percent of the cost of attending a public four-year school; now, it's closer to 30 percent. And if you're a poor kid wanting to attend a private school, well, you're relying on the mercy of that school to help you make it. For every school like Harvard that helps give low-income students a shot, there are a dozen more that jealously guard their endowment for better purposes, like building really awesome gyms.

It's also true that not enough students are receiving Pell Grants. This writeup from the Los Angeles Times points out that students from "higher-income families"--those families making between $30,000 and $40,000--may end up losing their Pell Grants altogether because of the proposed change. Since when is a family living on 30 grand high-income?? Republicans are trying to argue that all students who are eligible for Pell Grants receive them, which is simply false.

All of this doesn't even take into account the millions of high school seniors with academic records good enough to get them in to college, but who never even apply because they assume they couldn't afford it. Or the millions more who drop out of high school before they even finish, assuming they can do better by just getting a job now. Or kids whose parents came here illegally, but who have been working hard to be successful in school, only to discover that they are not eligible for any financial assistance whatsoever. But that's legislation (the DREAM Act) for another post.