Sponsors (52)
Official title: To improve the structure of the Federal Pell Grant program, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 23, 2026 by Mark Pocan · Last progress June 23, 2026
The bill makes Pell Grants larger, mandatory, and more accessible—especially for low‑income and some noncitizen students—providing predictable, inflation‑protected aid that expands college access, but it substantially raises federal costs, creates administrative burdens, and introduces eligibility rules that could produce cliff effects or program‑integrity challenges.
Low-income and Pell-eligible students (including many Black and Latino undergraduates) will receive larger, more stable Pell Grants—maximums rise toward $15,000 by 2031–32 and awards are indexed to inflation—reducing out-of-pocket costs and improving college access and completion.
Pell becomes mandatory, financed via open-ended “such sums as may be necessary,” giving students and institutions predictable, protected annual funding and reducing the risk of program shortfalls.
People who recently used means-tested federal benefits (very low‑income families) get targeted, administrable increases—an SAI floor and extra awards for negative SAI—that simplify eligibility and boost aid for the poorest students.
Mandating larger, inflation‑indexed Pell awards and expanding eligibility will substantially increase federal spending—raising deficits or creating pressure for tax increases or cuts elsewhere in the budget.
Colleges and the Department of Education face significant short‑term administrative and compliance costs (systems changes, policy revisions, immigration status verification, reporting) that may be passed to students or strain institutional resources.
Making Pell mandatory and locking in large maximums reduces congressional flexibility to reallocate funding or change student‑aid priorities without new offsets, limiting budgetary and policy options.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Raises Pell maximums to $10k–$15k through 2031–32, makes Pell mandatory funding, expands eligibility (negative SAI and Dreamer students), and tightens SAP rules, effective 7/1/2026.
Raises and stabilizes Federal Pell Grant funding, makes Pell funding mandatory, expands who can receive larger awards, creates a federal aid category for certain noncitizen "Dreamer" students, and tightens college satisfactory academic progress rules. Changes take effect July 1, 2026, and apply to award year 2026–2027 and later years. Specifically, the bill sets new maximum Pell amounts that rise to $15,000 (with CPI adjustments) by 2031–32, authorizes "such sums as may be necessary" to fund Pell starting FY2026, allows Pell awards to exceed the maximum for students with negative Student Aid Indexes (and treats recent recipients of means‑tested benefits as having a -$1,500 SAI), defines eligibility for a new "Dreamer student" category for Title IV aid, and requires clearer and stricter institutional SAP policies including a minimum "C" GPA benchmark by the end of year two for continued Title IV eligibility. It also makes a number of conforming citation edits to HEA text and removes a specific Pell exclusion provision.