Max Pell Grant Likely to Stay the Same for a 4th Year. College Students May Pay the Price
Credit: Bloomberg / Bloomberg / Getty Images- Proposals from both chambers of Congress would keep the maximum Pell Grant at $7,395.
- It’s rare for Congress to go more than three years without increasing the maximum award.
- The lack of a Pell increase could hurt low-income students struggling with rising costs.
- The Pell Grant program has, however, expanded in other ways in recent years.
The maximum Pell Grant is poised to remain unchanged for the fourth consecutive year.
2026 budget proposals from both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate would maintain the maximum Pell Grant award at $7,395 for the 2026-27 academic year.
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While student advocacy groups are relieved that President Donald Trump’s proposed 23% cut to the maximum award was rejected, the grant’s stagnation may force more students to pay out of pocket.
The Pell Grant program is the federal government’s primary grant program for low- and middle-income college students.
Catherine Brown, senior director of policy and advocacy at the National College Attainment Network (NCAN), told BestColleges that it is rare to see the maximum Pell award plateau for this long.
“This is atypical,” she said. “It’s more typical that Pell gets at least a small increase.”
The maximum Pell Grant award has been $7,395 since the 2023-24 academic year.
That’s in stark contrast to the previous decade. Since the 2012-13 academic year, the Pell Grant maximum has risen — at least marginally — every year until 2023. Congress hasn’t lowered the maximum award since 1993.
Pell Grant Stable, but Purchasing Power Lower
Melanie Storey, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), told BestColleges that a plateau in the maximum Pell award isn’t unheard of. While that stagnation typically doesn’t last more than three years, she doesn’t see this latest flat-funding trend as a worrying sign for the future of the Pell Grant program.
In recent years, the Pell Grant program has expanded, she said.
The FAFSA Simplification Act expanded the eligibility criteria for Pell Grants. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act expanded Pell Grants to workforce training programs as short as eight weeks, rather than a minimum of 16 weeks.
“Congress is very much trying to get a handle on overall Pell Grant costs,” Storey said.
Additionally, Congress did not move forward with the eligibility cuts originally proposed, which included increasing the number of credits required to be deemed a full-time student from 12 to 15. Student advocates worried that such a proposal would decrease the average Pell Grant award, and, ultimately, the eligibility change did not make it into the final bill.
“Sometimes policy changes that don’t happen are the biggest victory,” Brown said.
Still, Brown and Storey said they worry that a stagnant Pell Grant maximum will lower the grant’s purchasing power.
Despite some Pell expansion, Storey said it’s important to look at Pell from an individual student perspective. While low-income students have seen their noneducational costs like housing grow in recent years, their Pell award remains the same.
Pell Grant Plateau Impacts Low-Income Students
Overall, Pell’s purchasing power has waned in recent decades.
At its peak in the mid-1970s, the maximum Pell Grant award covered 79% of a student’s tuition, fees, and boarding costs at a public university. Fifty years later, the maximum Pell covers just 31% of a student’s projected costs.
That means a low-income student may still need to come up with $20,000 annually to pay for college, Brown said.
Students and families will bear the brunt of new costs associated with a drop in purchasing power.
Brown and Storey agreed that states will have a tough time increasing state aid to offset losses in Pell. That’s because states will also have to contend with federal cuts to programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Colleges and universities may also struggle to increase institutional aid, Storey said, and may instead try to keep tuition costs level.