The Trump administration’s budget proposal cuts from $7,395 to $5,710 a year the maximum federal Pell Grant award, federal aid available to low-income families who demonstrate financial need and on which 40% of undergraduate students rely to attend higher education, NBC News reported Sunday.
The proposal, which would also reduce the federal work-study program, is in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Republicans in Congress hope to enact.
Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren harshly criticized the proposal, saying that “the money we invest in post-high school education isn’t charity — it helps Americans get good jobs, start businesses, and contribute to our economy. No kid’s education should be defunded to pay for giant tax giveaways for billionaires.”
Melanie Storey, CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, added in a statement that “the president’s budget slashes student financial aid, effectively reducing college accessibility and affordability at a time when many families are already struggling with the daily cost of living.”
Lesley Turner, an associate professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and a research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research, pointed out to NBC News that “historically the Pell Grant was viewed as the foundation for financial support for low-income students. It’s the first dollar, regardless of other types of aid you have access to.”
Under the Trump proposal, the maximum Pell Grant for the next academic year would be at its lowest level in more than a decade.
More than 92% of Pell Grant recipients in 2019-20 were from families with household incomes below $60,000, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
“If adopted, [the proposed cuts] would require millions of enrolled students to drop out or take on more debt to complete their degrees — likely denying countless prospective low- and moderate-income students the opportunity to go to college altogether,” Sameer Gadkaree, CEO of the Institute for College Access & Success, emphasized in a statement.
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