Created in 1972, the Pell Grant program awards grants to low-income students to help pay for whatever accredited U.S. college they choose. Totaling $28.4 billion in 2019-20, the program is the most significant source of federal student aid for college. However, as the program turns 50 this year, many advocates are hoping to expand its reach and…

A growing body of empirical evidence shows that some financial aid programs increase college enrollment. Puzzlingly, there is little compelling evidence that Pell Grants and Stafford Loans, the primary federal student aid programs, are effective in achieving this goal. In this paper, we provide an in-depth review of this evidence, which taken as a…

Because of public concern over prisoners receiving cash benefits from Social Security Administration (SSA) and Veterans' Administration (VA) programs, the General Accounting Office (GAO) conducted a study to estimate the number of prisoners currently receiving cash, social security, other federal retirement, disability, and educational benefits.…

The Pell Grant Quality Control Study of 1982-83 was designed to identify program error rate, to measure the impact of increased validation activity, and to propose corrective actions to reduce the misallocation of program funds. A sample of approximately 4,000 students drawn from a sample of 317 participating institutions showed that Pell Grant…

Alternative management procedures are recommended that may lower the rate and magnitude of errors in the award of the Basic Educational Opportunity Grants (BEOGs), or Pell Grants. The recommendations are part of the BEOG quality control project and are based on a review of current (1980-1981) levels, distribution, and significance of error in the…