The Department of Education will use updated tax tables to calculate Pell Grant eligibility in the 2005-06 academic year.
The changes would make 90,000 families ineligible for the grants, according to an estimate from the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, a group created to advise Congress. About 1.3 million students could see their grants reduced by anywhere from $100 to $300 under the change. Use of the new tax tables is expected to save the federal government $300 million. (“Under Budget Bill, Some Students Facing a Reduction in College Aid,” Dec. 8, 2004.)
A statement from the office of Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said that the number of students expected to receive Pell Grants would actually increase by 25,000 under the change.
