Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Pell Grant Program

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Pell Grant Program.

In 1972, Congress amended the Higher Education Act by creating the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant. This legislation provides direct financial aid to low-income students so they can have the same access to higher education and opportunity for success as their higher income peers. This program was later named the Pell Grant for its original sponsor, Sen. Claiborne Pell, Democrat from Rhode Island. The original bill was signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon, and the program has maintained this original bipartisan support over the last 50 years.

The federal investment in Pell Grants is targeted to students with demonstrated financial need, with most families at incomes of $40,000 or less, and can be used to fund career and technical education, community college education, university education, and post graduate education. The investment pays off by increasing college completion and boosting economic mobility.

To date, more than 80 million students have received a Pell Grant to go to college since the program's creation. Currently, nearly 7 million students are going to college with Pell Grants, or about 40 percent of undergraduate students.

In my congressional district, 6,796 students are receiving $28,721,279 in Federal Pell Grant funds to pursue their higher education goals at our local colleges. In my state of Washington, 87,342 students receive $357,725,397 in Federal Pell grant funds.

I look forward to Congress continuing the bipartisan support for low- income student access to college through the Pell Grant for another 50 years.

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