Under proposed changes in the House, most recipients could receive a smaller award. Campus leaders want the Senate to save it.
College presidents are rallying behind Senate Republicans to block deep cuts to the Pell Grant program, which helps over 6 million low- and middle-income students afford college.
To address an expected $2.7 billion shortfall in the program later this year, the House version of President Donald Trump’s sweeping budget proposal includes stricter eligibility requirements. According to the Congressional Budget Office, these changes could eliminate nearly 10 percent of current recipients and reduce award amounts for many others — a move that has alarmed educators.
Mark Brown, president of Alabama’s Tuskegee University and a former Trump Education Department official, told senators last month that the House proposal would force more students into debt. Large university systems, including California State University and California Community Colleges, have called the House plan an “existential threat.”
“This is a difference between some of those students, either coming to our universities or tech colleges or not,” said Jay Rothman, president of the University of Wisconsin, whose 13 campuses have roughly 31,600 Pell Grant recipients.
Republicans in both chambers are under tremendous pressure from party bosses to find savings that help offset Trump’s $4 trillion in broader tax cuts. But higher education leaders across the nation say the House GOP’s plans would imperil college access for working students and contend that their institutions can’t make up for the loss of federal financial aid.
“There are going to be some students who have the ability and have the passion and have the desire, but will not have the financial means to attend our universities. And there will be students that will not get the benefit of that higher education because of these reductions,” Rothman said.
During the 2024-25 award year, the maximum Pell Grant was $7,395, which is determined based on income, family size, federal poverty guidelines, and other factors. The House-passed “big, beautiful bill” would require students to increase their course load from 24 credit hours a year to 30 each year to be eligible for the maximum amount of the grant.
Most students would likely need to take 15 credits per semester instead of 12 to receive the full award, although students could take summer courses to meet the full-time requirements. The bill also includes language that would bar students enrolled in classes less than half-time from receiving the grant.
But the Senate has proposed scaling back the lower chamber’s dramatic changes to the grant, and appears to be sticking with its Pell plans in the chamber’s latest legislative text. The upper chamber’s plan would deem students ineligible for the grant if they receive federal, state, institutional, or private aid that covers the full cost of attendance, something campus leaders and advocates deem more favorable. Education Chair Bill Cassidy’s proposal strips the full-time definition and half-time language from the panel’s portion of the reconciliation bill, to the disgruntlement of some House leaders.
“I’m not OK with it,” said House Education and Workforce Chair Tim Walberg, whose panel is responsible for the lower chamber’s Pell proposal. “But we learned that we have to deal with reality. We know that we have to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Walberg said he hasn’t seen anything in the Senate’s proposal that would be a deal breaker, but worries about the long-term sustainability of the grant. Pell’s estimated shortfall could balloon up to $10 billion by the end of fiscal 2026.
Both the House and Senate proposals include funding to address the shortfall. Still, Walberg has said his proposed changes to eligibility would help rein in annual spending on Pell and help stave off another deficit.
“We thought the proposal was very realistic,” said the Michigan Republican. “The challenge is, if we’re going to cover the Pell Grant shortfall, we need to ensure students are actually completing their education and graduating.”
However, some colleges are advising against heavier course loads, citing concerns that academic performance tends to decline when students take on too many classes—especially those juggling work or family responsibilities.
“We actually recommend students take 12 credits, not 15, so they can succeed,” said Patricia McGuire, President of Trinity Washington University. “Fifteen credits is an overwhelming load for students who are also working, raising children, or dealing with difficult family situations. Congress not only misunderstands how education works—they also seem unaware of the realities low-income students face.”
“If this goes through, we will go out, and we will make the case directly to donors: Can you help us to close this new gap that the government has created?” she said. “But that also seems like we shouldn’t have to do that.”
Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a HELP Committee member, said he just wants the reconciliation bill’s education proposals to be “right in the end” when asked about the House Pell plans. “Education is hugely important,” he said.
Pell eligibility changes could be much more acute for community colleges, where students are often part-time.
“At community colleges, we’re about careers, we’re about jobs, we’re about getting people into the workforce, and if they can’t afford to access the education, then we certainly can’t get them into the workforce,” Forsyth Technical Community College President Janet Spriggs said.
======
-- By Robert Douglass
© Copyright 2025 JWT Communications. All rights reserved. This article cannot be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten, or distributed in any form without written permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment