On 50th anniversary of Pell Grant legislation, lawmakers want to 'double down' on efforts

NEWPORT — Claiborne Pell is still a titan in the annals of American political history, with a rich legacy of service not only to the Rhode Island constituents he served for six terms in the U.S. Senate but also to the entire population of the country.

While Pell was the driving force behind the establishment of widely appreciated initiatives, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Amtrak train service, perhaps his crowning achievement was the Pell Grant legislation, which since 1972 has provided direct federal funds for low- and middle-income students seeking higher education.

U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Congressman David Cicilline and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona joined members of the late Pell’s family, representatives of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority and local students and educators at Salve Regina University on Monday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Pell Grant and advocate for a doubling of the current maximum award.

“Pell Grants are central to our education system,” said Reed, who was elected to Pell’s seat when he retired. “Because of the Pell Grant, over 80 million Americans and counting have been able to attend college, and the percentage of people age 25 to 30 with a bachelor’s degree has doubled.”

Originally known as the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant, the award was renamed in 1980 in honor of Pell. It is the largest federal grant program offered by the U.S. Department of Education to undergraduate students, with 34% of undergraduate students nationwide receiving a Pell Grant, and about 68% of those Pell Grant funds going toward tuition at public schools.

“The Pell Grant is about expanding opportunity through higher education," Reed said. "It is about helping hardworking students afford to pay for college and building for the future. Fifty years in, it’s time to double down on that success by doubling the power of Pell Grants to uplift future generations and ensure they, too, can afford to pay for college, reach their potential, and strengthen our communities and the economy.”

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The Pell Grant is need-based financial aid that offers up to $6,895 in federal assistance to help students of all backgrounds pursue a college degree. All students who complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid are automatically considered for the grant, which does not need to be paid back.

According to a press release from Reed’s office, last year, 23,752 Rhode Island students received more than $96.9 million in Pell Grants, and nationwide over 6.35 million American students utilized $26.45 billion in Pell Grant funding to help pay for college.

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However, all of the politicians in attendance acknowledged in their remarks the Pell Grant does not have the purchasing power it did back in 1972, when the maximum award of $450 was almost enough to cover the average public university tuition of $500.

Whitehouse, Cicilline and Cardona, all members of the Democratic party, also called for the Pell award to be doubled. Cicilline went further, saying the maximum Grant award should be indexed to inflation to ensure it remains an effective tool for increasing access to higher education.

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Cardona stated he and President Joe Biden want to “restore the promise of Pell by doubling it by 2029.”

Reed, Whitehouse and Cicilline are all co-sponsors of the bicameral Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act, which would double the Pell Grant award and index the award to inflation.

First-generation college students benefited from Pell Grants

Reed and Cardona also participated in a panel discussion with three current and former college students in Rhode Island, all of them first-generation college graduates who benefited from Pell Grants in the course of their educational journeys.

Jennifer Santos, Milly De La Cruz and David Motta shared their experiences of working while going to college, entering the workforce, and pursuing graduate degrees, and answered questions posed by the senator and the secretary.

All three of them referenced publicly funded programs for low-income and first-generation college students, such as the McNair Achievement Program at the University of Rhode Island, which along with Pell Grants and other aid helped put them in a position to succeed in and after college.

De La Cruz, who now works in higher education as special programs coordinator and student success coach at Bristol Community College in Massachusetts and is enrolled in a graduate program at Providence College, has a goal of one day becoming a university president.

“The Pell Grant was a huge help to me," she said. "Not having it would have set me back tremendously in my academic and career goals.”

In the future, could Pell Grant money be used to bolster technical fields?

In a brief question and answer period with the press after the event, Cardona and Reed responded to a question from The Daily News about the possibility of extending the Pell Grant or a similar program to non-traditional students enrolled at technical schools, apprenticeship programs or industry-related courses.

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Cardona referenced “a lot of conversations about how to create opportunities for shorter-term Pell."

"There’s a lot we want to do to expand it because we know you can’t beat the return on investment of the Pell Grant," he said.

Reed pointed out that a lot of money for workforce training traditionally comes from the Department of Labor rather than the Department of Education.

“We are working closely with them and the state of Rhode Island so that creative training programs in the state can be funded," Reed said. "We have (also) gotten money from the Defense Department, so in collaboration with CCRI, we have a whole school in Westerly preparing people to go right to work at Quonset Point."

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Pell Grant 50th anniversary: Lawmakers want more funding for students