Funding for the Federal Pell Grant Program is facing a potential $5.7 billion funding cut, a move that experts say may force millions of students to turn to private lenders to fund their undergraduate educations.
The cuts are due to an unexpected budget shortfall in the program, after more students applied for Pell Grant funding than anticipated. Pell Grants offer aid to the neediest undergraduate students across the country.
If Congress votes to reduce the Pell Grant budget, nearly 9 million students nationwide would face a cut of more than 15 percent in their 2011 maximum award, according to the Committee for Education Funding.
At GW, roughly 11 to 12 percent of undergraduate students receive Pell Grant funding as part of their financial aid package, said Dan Small, assistant vice president for Financial Assistance.
Small said if the Pell Grant funding is cut, the onus to help fund the education of these low-income students will fall on GW, which has already had to increase its financial aid pool by millions of dollars in order to help students weather the financial downturn.
Read the full story at the GW Hatchet.
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