Doubling Pell Grant would help more students pursue college degrees
When President Joe Biden announced his plan to forgive a significant amount of federal student loan debt last August
— a proposal whose fate will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court at the end of February — the ensuing debates cast a very public spotlight on the cost of higher education.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average in-state tuition and fees for one year at a public non-profit university in 1970-71 was $394, which is about $3,038 in today’s dollars. By 202021, that same education cost had increased to $10,560 per academic year. That’s an increase of more than 2,500% over the 50-year period.
Meanwhile, the median income of U.S. households in 1970 was about $9,870, which is roughly $76,000 in today’s dollars. But 50 years later, the median U.S. household income in 2021 was just $70,784. That means the amount of money the average American family has available to spend on higher education is nearly 10% lower today than it was 50 years ago.
What helps make up this difference? Financial aid such as scholarships, grants and student loans. And as America seeks new ways to increase affordable access to higher education, we must acknowledge that one of the most transformative financial aid programs in U.S. history is in drastic need of an upgrade.
The federal Pell Grant was established in 1972, and since then it has enabled millions of students from low- and middle-income families to unlock the power of a college degree by providing a no-cost subsidy that can be used at more than 5,000 participating institutions. While other financial aid programs are available, the Pell Grant is often considered the foundational building block of a student’s tuition assistance package because it does not need to be repaid. But there’s one big problem: unlike the cost of providing an education, the amount of the Pell Grant has not increased at the same rate.
This year, the maximum Pell Grant will be $7,395. While that number is undoubtedly helpful to college students who are experiencing financial hardship, it is unfortunately nowhere near the value that the program was intended to provide. In the mid-1970s, the maximum Pell Grant covered more than 75% of the cost of attending a four-year public college, but today it covers less than 33%. This massive shortfall is one big reason why more than half of U.S. college graduates have student loan debt, which amounts to a staggering total of $1.75 trillion in nationwide student loan debt at an average of nearly $30,000 per borrower.
That is why the time has come to double the maximum Pell Grant to $13,000.
Earlier this month, I attended the annual meeting of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C., where I helped raise awareness of the ongoing campaign to Double Pell. Doing so will greatly reduce our nation’s crippling financial aid debt while also enabling many more lowand middle-income students to qualify for the program. Not only would increasing student access to higher education benefit America’s families, employers and educational institutions, but it would also ensure that other legislative initiatives such as Biden’s student loan relief plan and the U.S. Senate’s proposed “risk-sharing” initiative to reduce excessive student borrowing are actually addressing meaningful concerns instead of punting the college affordability issue further down the line for future generations to tackle.
I am hopeful that our lawmakers and educational leaders will continue working together to find new ways to make a world-class education more accessible and affordable for all students. But I also believe that optimizing existing programs like the Pell Grant will provide immediate relief and life-changing opportunities to those who are most in need of our help.