Student Loans - PELL GRANTS
The Pell Grant Program is a need-based, undergraduate
grant program funded by the federal government.
Pell Grants may be used at both two-year and four-year colleges.
Five million students, one-third of undergraduates,
receive an average of $2,500 per year in Pell Grants to
finance their education at accredited colleges or universities.
Students do not pay back the grants.
Students qualify for Pell Grants based on family financial need.
More than 90% of families receiving Pell assistance earn less than
$35,000 a year. Pell Grants are the main source of college financing
for low-income families.
Eligibility is determined by a complex tax return-related formula
established by Congress and applied by the US Dep’t of Education.
In July 2005, the House Committee on Education finished
an extensive two-year project to relook at all college grant
and loans programs. The result was a 333-page legislative
package, the Higher Education Act, passed by the House.
Among changes to the Pell Grant program, which
commenced for the 2005-2006 federal year are:
- Grants will now be available year-round,
rather than just during specified date periods.
- Previously, students who had been convicted of a drug offense
were ineligible for Pell Grants. This was changed to only exclude
students convicted of drug offenses while students.
- For schools’ students to be eligible for Pell Grants,
colleges must provide intellectual climates that support
a wide range of views, and not permit professors to punish students
who don’t see eye-to-eye with them.
- More colleges will now be eligible for their students to
receive Pell Grants, as a provision was eliminated from the
Higher Education Act that barred federal financial aid
programs being extended to schools that offer more than half
of their courses online or via distance education.
TAGS:
Higher Education, Higher Education Act, Pell Grants
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