Pell grants: fewer of them under budget deal

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Pell grants: fewer of them under budget deal

Pell grants would be cut for an estimated 100,000 college students, who take longer than six years to graduate. But the budget compromise in Congress would preserve the Pell grants' maximum $5,550 award.

Paul Sakuma/AP

University of California, Berkeley, students walk through Sather Gate on the Berkeley, Calif., campus, earlier this month. On Dec. 16, 2011, the US House passed a budget compromise that would reduce the number of Pell grants that the government awards.

By Kimberly Hefling AP Education Writer

Dec. 17, 2011, 11:35 a.m. ET | WASHINGTON

College students taking longer than six years to obtain their undergraduate degree would have their聽Pell聽grants聽cut off next school year under a $1 trillion budget bill passed Friday in the House.

Millions of students each year receive聽Pell聽grants, which are offered to low-income students and don't have to be paid back.

The bill keeps the maximum聽grant聽award at $5,550, but seeks to save $11 billion over the next decade in聽Pelldollars, in part, by reducing the maximum number of years the聽grant聽can be received from nine to six.

It's estimated that about 100,000 students would be affected by the change, said Amy Wilkins, the vice president for government affairs and communications at the advocacy group Education Trust. Students who take that long to get a degree typically are either transfer students who don't receive full credit for previous coursework or those working and supporting a family, Wilkins said. Some, she said, will be surprised to learn they may have to come up with thousands of dollars to make up the difference.

"For those 100,000 kids, it's pretty bad," Wilkins said.

The bill also reduces the income level under which a student will automatically be eligible to receive the maximum聽Pell聽grants聽from $30,000 to $23,000. And, it requires recipients to have a high school diploma, GED certificate or complete a homeschooling program to receive a聽Pell聽grant.

As more low-income students have enrolled in college during a weak economy, spending on聽Pell聽Grants聽has exploded, nearly doubling in just over two years to $34.8 billion. In 2008-2009, according to data collected by the College Board, 6.2 million students received聽Pell聽Grants聽averaging $2,945; in 2010-2011 9.1 million received聽grants聽averaging $3,828.

In other education areas, popular initiatives for special-needs children and disadvantaged schools were basically frozen in the bill, and Obama's "Race to the Top" initiative, which provides聽grants聽to winners in exchange for reforms the administration favors, would absorb a more than 20 percent cut.

The bill next goes to the Senate, which was expected to pass it on Saturday.