Dive Brief:

• Because only 10% of children born in the bottom quartile of household incomes attain a bachelor’s degree by age 25, the Obama administration has announced a new Pell Grant experiment that allows students taking college-credit courses to access the federal funds while still in high school.
• Some 10,000 high school students will have the opportunity to access approximately $20 million in Pell Grants, and 80% of them will attend community colleges.
• According to a U.S. Department of Education press release, more than 1.4 million high school students took courses offered by a college or university for credit through dual enrollment in the 2010-11 school year, and participation in dual enrollment programs can lead to improved academic outcomes.

Dive Insight:

Last December, a budget approved by Congress increased the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,915. In September, Inside Higher Ed reported the national graduation rate for Pell Grant recipients is 14% behind their peers. An Education Trust report on student performance at 1,500 private and public nonprofit colleges found sizable gaps in graduation rates between students who receive Pell Grants and those who do not. With increasing gaps between the cost of attendance and the portion families can contribute to education expenses, many of these students are forced to leave school because they cannot afford to continue. 

In March 2016, Democrats on the House education committee hosted a forum about the Higher Education Act, which is currently overdue for reauthorization. Arguments from many were in favor of increasing Pell Grant funding, since the grants used to cover 75% of the cost of attendance at public universities and now cover only about one-third.