Pell Grants Expand Access to Higher Education

Between 1967 and 1973, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, financed by the Corporation and sponsored by its sister institution, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, conducted a study outlining a massive program of higher education federal assistance. Among other outcomes, the Commission’s recommendations led to the formation of the Federal Pell Grants program. Since 1973, the program, named after Senator Claiborne Pell who was instrumental in its creation, has awarded more than $100 billion in grants to an estimated 30 million postsecondary students. Today, Pell grants are an intrinsic element of higher education funding, but it’s important to remember how revolutionary they really were when the grants were first proposed.  Originally, Pell grants, which do not require repayment and are awarded based on a financial need formula determined by Congress, were to be funneled directly to institutions. But with the passage of the Higher Education Act of 1972, which was influenced by the work of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, control of the largest share of financial aid dollars was shifted from institutions to individuals, very much in keeping with the American character. In that way, the grants became portable, meaning they could follow a student from one institution to another if his or her higher education career required that kind of mobility.