There may be a little good news for future college students with family incomes of $50,000 or less a year: Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) who chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee; plus House Representatives Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin) and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Virginia) who chairman of the House Education & Labor Committee, have introduced the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act to Congress.
The Pell Grant is guaranteed gift, funded by the US government via taxpayers, and is put towards a student’s college tuition. Filling out the family income information in the FAFSA determines the amount a student gets. The Pell Grant is not like a loan because it does not have to be paid back. The maximum gift, based on family income, is currently topped at approximately $6,495 for a school year.
If the bill passes in the House and Senate and becomes law, it would protect the Pell Grant, increase the amount based on inflation and have the Pell Grant fund permanently funded so that it can gift to millions of students. Part-time students would also be able to receive a percentage. Full-time students will be able to request the grant for 18 semesters instead of currently 12 semesters; not all students can obtain degrees in four years, so extending the grant will help them.
– For the 2023–2024 school year the bill calls for students to get a maximum of $9,000.
– The Pell Grant will increase to $10,000 for 2024–2025.
– Students will receive in 2025–2026 up to $11,000.
– $12,000 in 2026–2027 will be the maximum.
– The bill will reach its goal of $13,000 per year in 2027–2028 and each year after that.
Students in families that receive federal benefits would qualify automatically for the maximum award plus an additional $1,500. There is a sliding scale for the Pell after that.
Representative Scott and Senators Hirono and Murray had previously introduced the Act in 2017 with no progress. It originally began as the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant in 1972 and it was renamed in honor of Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell in 1980. He first introduced the bill to create the grant in 1965.
“The Pell Grant is the most important tool we have to help students afford college. Unfortunately, due to the rising cost of college, the purchasing power of Pell Grants has severely eroded over time,” said Senator Scott in a press release.
“Every year, Pell Grants make college more affordable for millions of students in the United States—including tens of thousands of students in Hawaii. But over the last decade, the value of the Pell Grant has steadily declined—from covering nearly fourth-fifths of the cost of attendance at a public, four-year institution at its height, to less than one-third,” Senator Hirono said.
“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,” Senator Murray said.
In addition to Senators Hirono and Murray and Representatives Pocan and Scott, the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act is cosponsored by Senators Jack Reed (D-R.I), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), and Representatives Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Andre Carson (D-Ind.), Tony Cardenas (D-Calif.), Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), Val Demings (D-Fla.), Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), John Garamendi (D-Calif.), Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), Al Lawson (D-Fla.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), Andy Levin (D-Mich.), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.), Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Marie Newman (D-Ill.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (D-Northern Mariana Islands), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Paul D. Tonko (D-N.Y.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.).
How to get this Act to pass? Contact your senators and congressperson to encourage them to vote for the increase this time.
Read the Act here: https://edlabor.house.gov/imo/media/doc/PELL_PRESERVATION_xml.pdf
