Dive Summary:
- Community colleges and some public institutions are reporting declines in summer enrollment following the elimination of the year-round Pell Grant, which was eliminated July 1, 2011.
- President Obama suggested cut the summer Pell Grant's $8 billion appropriation last year with the goal of preserving the maximum regular Pell Grant amount of $5,550, with administration officials calling the cut of the summer grant a tough but necessary sacrifice.
- The regular Pell Grant no longer appears to be in any danger of being cut, as a proposed House of Representatives budget calls for an increase to the grant's maximum amount in 2013.
From the article:
WASHINGTON -- By the standards of most federal financial aid programs, the year-round Pell Grant had a short and uneventful life. A three-year experiment that let students receive two of the need-based grants in one year in order to help pay for summer classes, the program was killed off by bipartisan agreement in last year's federal budget. But concern about the program's elimination has lingered. More than a year after the last summer grants were distributed, colleges are worried that ending the program could have lingering effects on college completion and enrollment. ...