Student Aid Alliance Funding Request Includes Raising Pell Maximum to $7,000

The Student Aid Alliance, a coalition of more than 80 organizations and institutions that supports increased funding for the federal student aid programs, recently submitted a funding request to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees urging lawmakers to continue their bipartisan support for federal student aid.
 
Grounded by a request to increase the Pell Grant maximum to $7,000, the Alliance’s proposal seeks to bring federal funding for Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG), Federal Work Study (FWS), TRIO, and GEAR UP back to their inflation-adjusted highest funding levels from before the 2008 recession.  Additionally, the funding request recommends at least $35 million to increase the number of awards under the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) grant program and funding to reinstate Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships (LEAP) grants.
 
Specifically, the funding increases are as follows:

• Pell Grant maximum: $655 increase to $7,000
• SEOG: $187 million increase to $1.052 billion
• FWS: $287 million increase to $1.467 billion
• TRIO: $60 million increase to $1.150 billion
• GEAR UP: $35 million increase to $400 million
• GAANN: $12 million increase to $35 million
• LEAP: Allocate $65 million for reinstatement of the grant program

NAICU co-chairs the Student Aid Alliance with the American Council on Education, and participation includes all sectors of higher education, and broad representation of the campus community.  Using these request levels, the Alliance will advocate for increased student aid funding throughout the budget and appropriations process this year.
 

For more information, please contact:
Stephanie Giesecke