Pell Grant Cuts Linked To Drop In Black Student Enrollment Rates

by Alvin Buyinza

Years of inconsistent funding for the Pell Grant and state budget cuts played a role in a nearly half-million drop in the number of Black students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities over the past decade, according to a new report.

The report, made by the University of Alabama’s Education Policy Center for the Southern Education Foundation, uses data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Data System and 47 Pell Grant End-of-Year Reports published by the Department.

Pell Grant Growth Once Boosted College Access

Pell Grant funding grew from $14.7 billion to $33.6 billion between the 2007-2008 school year and the 2011-2012 school year, according to the report. And the number of people awarded the federal student aid skyrocketed from 5.5 m