Pell Grant Recipients Have Fewer Affordable College Options: Report

• Only 24% of four-year public colleges were considered affordable for Pell Grant recipients during the 2019-2020 academic year, according to the National College Attainment Network (NCAN).
• That represents a decline from the 2015-2016 academic year, according to NCAN.
• There was a $2,627 affordability gap at four-year institutions and a $907 gap at two-year institutions during the 2019-2020 academic year.
• Only eight states had more than four affordable four-year public institutions during the 2019-2020 academic year, according to the study.

Students who receive Pell Grants face affordability gaps at many colleges, according to a new report — and the number of affordable institutions is dwindling.

Just 24% of four-year public colleges were affordable for Pell Grant recipients during the 2019-2020 academic year, according to a study by the National College Attainment Network (NCAN).

NCAN calculated college affordability using five metrics: an institution's average federal, state, and institutional grants to students; average federal loan disbursements; the expected family contribution of the average Pell Grant recipient; average federal work-study awards, and students' summer wages.

In order to be affordable by NCAN, the total cost for attending a college plus $300 for emergency expenses can't be higher than those five metrics combined.

The average affordability gap, or unmet financial need, at four-year public institutions was $2,627, according to NCAN.

Two-year public colleges were generally more affordable for Pell Grant recipients, with roughly 40% being considered affordable. The affordability gap for Pell Grant recipients at those institutions was $907.

“In all five years studied by NCAN, dating from the 2015-2016 academic year to the 2019-2020 academic year, 36 states had fewer than five public four-year institutions that were considered affordable.”

In all five years studied by NCAN, dating from the 2015-2016 academic year to the 2019-2020 academic year, 36 states had fewer than five public four-year institutions that were considered affordable. Ten states had no affordable postsecondary institutions throughout the five years, according to the report.

Just eight states had more than four affordable four-year public institutions during the 2019-2020 academic year, according to the report. California, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington had the highest number of affordable colleges.

Ten states saw an increase in the number of affordable colleges during the five years studied by NCAN, according to the report, although in 42 states college affordability gaps grew over that same period — to the tune of $1,396 on average.

"In 2015-16, just shy of a third — or 29% — of the sample was affordable according to NCAN's model," the report reads. "This figure declined to just 24% in 2019-20."

Check out NCAN's interactive database to see how hundreds of colleges and universities scored for affordability.