From the desk of Rob McCarron
This month, AICU Mass and our member colleges and universities, along with fellow higher education associations from across the country, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Pell Grant program. Since its founding in 1972, the Federal Pell Grant has helped over 80 million students, many of them first-generation, attend the college or university that best meets their individual talents and educational needs.
In recognition of the impact the Pell Grant has had on multiple generations of students, the Biden administration, United State Senate and the United States House of Representatives issued proclamations and resolutions recognizing June 23rd as National Federal Pell Grant Day. In doing so, they played tribute to the lasting legacy of the Pell Grant and its transformational impact on the more than 7 million students annually that are helped by the grant.
Named for former Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell, who was the driving force in the creation of the program, the Pell Grant has long been the cornerstone of the federal financial aid program. However, while the Pell Grant remains the fairest and most efficient way to provide financial assistant to low-income and first-generation students, the program is in need of additional federal support to ensure its meaningful impact on future generations of students.
At its core, the Pell Grant has long provided students with financial assistance to attend the college or university of their choosing, allowing them to attend the institution that fits their current educational needs and future aspirations. It was Senator Pell’s vision that low-income students have the ability to take their federal grant to the institution of their choice, rather than the federal government distributing aid directly to the institutions. Quickly winning over early skeptics, the Pell program was modeled after the successful GI Bill, and designed to open the doors of countless colleges and universities that students may not otherwise have considered. It is to Senator Pell’s credit that these grants are provided directly to students for their use in pursuing a higher education.
During his presidential campaign, President Biden called for a doubling of the maximum Pell Grant award. Earlier this year, he signed into law the largest increase in the Pell Grant in over ten years and again called for the doubling of the maximum Pell grant by 2029. Doing so would be nothing short of transformational for the more than 110,000 Pell Grant recipients annually that attend a college or university in Massachusetts. And doing so would be very much in line with the vision of Senator Pell, who set out on a path 50 years ago to provide educational freedom to our nation’s most deserving students and families.
| 
