Published: October 2019

Further cuts to Pell will put college out of reach for many low-income families

Consumer Action joined a letter to Senate appropriators urging them to oppose the overall Labor-HHS-Education spending allocation and the accompanying proposed $1.3 billion rescission from the Pell grant reserve fund. Instead, advocates urged the Senate to fully retain all current Pell funds where they belong - in the Pell Grant program.

The current maximum Pell Grant already covers less than one-third of the cost of attending a four-year public college - the lowest share in more than 40 years. Pell Grant recipients today are more than twice as likely as other students to have student loans, and recipients who borrow graduate with over $4,500 more debt than their higher-income peers.

In the letter, advocates explained that the proposed $1.3 billion cut would put much-needed investments to strengthen Pell grants further out of reach. This cut would also place the program at risk of future cuts to grant amounts or eligibility that would exacerbate student debt and limit access to higher education.

 

Lead Organization

The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS)

Other Organizations

American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers American Federation of Teachers | Americans for Financial Reform | Associated Students of the University of California | Association of Big Ten Students | Association of Young Americans (AYA) | Cal State Student Association | California Competes | California EDGE Coalition | Center for Responsible Lending | Consumer Action | Consumer Reports | Deeds Action Fund | Democrats for Education Reform | Education Reform Now Advocacy | Excelencia in Education | Faculty Association of California Community Colleges | Foothill-De Anza Community College District | Generation Progress | Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce | Higher Education Loan Coalition (HELC) | Higher Learning Advocates | Hildreth Institute | Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities | Jobs for the Future (JFF) | John Burton Advocates for Youth Jolt Initiative | KIPP | LeadMN – College Students Connecting for Change | Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce | Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition | NAACP | NACAC | National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) | National Association of State Student Grant & Aid Programs (NASSGAP) | National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) | National Campus Leadership Council | National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients) | National Education Association | National Skills Coalition | National Urban League | New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) | PHENOM (Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts) | Raise the Barr | Scholarship America | Shasta College | Silicon Valley Leadership Group | Student Debt Crisis | Student Parent HELP Center | Student Veterans of America | The Campaign for College Opportunity | The Education Trust | The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS)| U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG) | uAspire | UNCF (United Negro College Fund, Inc.) | Univ. of Hawai’i – Bridge to Hope | University of California Student Association | Veterans Education Success | Women Employed | Woodstock Institute | Yes We Must Coalition | Young Invincibles

More Information

Click here to read the letter in full.
For more information, please visit TICAS.

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