Inside Higher Ed, September 23, 2016: More Aid for the Needy

“A new report from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics found that the percentage of both independent and dependent students who received Pell Grants increased from 1999 to 2011. In 1999, 19 percent of dependent students -- or those who relied on their parents' income -- received the grants. That figure increased to 35 percent by 2011. Among independent students, the percentage of recipients increased from 25 percent in 1999 to 48 percent in 2011. Those numbers correspond with decreasing median family incomes. In 1999, the median family income for dependent Pell Grant recipients was $29,500, after adjusting for inflation. That number decreased to $26,100 by 2011. For independent students, the median income declined from $14,300 to $12,700. ‘This really reinforces the growing need for the Pell Grant,’ said Bill DeBaun, director of data and evaluation at the National College Access Network, a nonprofit organization that advocates for low-income students. ‘We know that the Pell is a great policy instrument promoting postsecondary access and opportunity to student groups that need it the most and who have the least access to opportunity. The decreasing median income from the report is there. It's very well targeted even as the demand grew.’ After the recession, there were some concerns that the expansion of the Pell program would lead to less targeting or focus on low-income students. In 2008, for instance, the maximum Pell award was $4,350. That number has increased to $5,815 this year. But to address worries about rising costs of the program, the Obama administration in 2011 cut year-round access to the grants.”