Facts and Statistics About Federal Pell Grants

For the 2025-2026 academic year, the maximum Pell Grant amount was $7,395 — the same as the 2024-2025 award year. Pell Grant awards help millions of students pay for some of their college expenses. However, fewer students are receiving these government grants each year.

This report details who and how many people receive Pell Grants. It uses the most recently collected data, which is from the 2022-2023 award year.

According to the most recent data available via Federal Student Aid, 6,033,000 students received Pell Grants in 2022-2023 — the lowest number of students to receive Pell Grants since 2007-2008.

The number and percentage of students receiving Pell Grants has declined in recent years. From 2010-2014, roughly half of undergraduates attending college received Pell Grant assistance to help pay for tuition. By 2022, that rate dropped to 39%.

The average Pell Grant amount has increased since the program has existed. However, it has not kept up with the pace of college tuition inflation.

In 1980, the average Pell Grant was $882, and the average cost of college tuition was $1,679, per the National Center for Education Statistics. In 2022, the average Pell Grant Amount was $4,511; college tuition was $14,688.

Pell Grants go to students who demonstrate financial need. More Pell Grants are awarded to students living on their own with little income or those living with families who make low incomes — and many students who are responsible dependent children — versus students from families who make a lot of money.

However, even if you come from a middle-income family, you may qualify for some Pell Grant funding.

Any prospective undergraduate student who has not already received a bachelor’s degree can apply for a Pell Grant. Whether you are awarded a Pell Grant and how much you receive depends on various factors, including your state of residence, dependency status, and income.

Learn more about Pell Grant eligibility to calculate your potential award amount.

Generally, there are more Pell Grant recipients in states with larger populations. However, the states with the largest average Pell Grant award amount are:

Vermont, New Hampshire, and Alaska have the lowest average Pell Grant award amounts.

Pell Grants are awarded to students attending public and private, four-year and two-year colleges.

The most Pell Grants are awarded to students attending four-year public colleges. Roughly 44% of Pell Grants go to students attending these schools. Additionally, about a quarter of Pell Grant recipients (24.6%) attend public two-year colleges.

About half of Pell Grant recipients (48%) are independent students versus dependent students. Independent students are older than 24 or meet another qualification making them independent, such as:

Nearly 1.7 million Pell Grant recipients — 27% of all Pell Grant recipients — are independents who have dependents relying on them. Another 1.3 million (21%) are independents without dependents (e.g., without children).

3.1 million Pell Grant recipients (52%) are dependents.