A Hike in Federal Grant Aid as College Prices Go Up

Published on Saturday, November 13th, 2010 by Nohel Category: College News

(San Francisco, CA)- Tuition increases across the country have affected and will continue to affect college students registered in private and public colleges. One of the strategies by the federal government is to increase the amount of college grant aid to limit the effect of tuition increases for those that qualify. However, those that come from middle class families tend to be left out of most federal grant aid available.

According to a recent article in the Chronicle:

The federal government spent $41.3-billion on grant aid for undergraduate and graduate students in 2009-10. That’s up from $25.2-billion the year before, an increase of about 72 percent, or $16.1-billion in constant dollars.

The major increase in grant aid by the feds was in large part driven by the federal Pell Grant program which provides financial assistance to low-income college students and also provides aid for military veterans. This increase in Pell Grants helped minimize the impact of increasing tuition fees at universities and colleges across the country.

Over all, for the 2009 – 2010 academic year, undergraduates received an average of $11,461 in aid per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student, including $6,041 in grants from all sources and $4,883 in federal loans. One report found that students’ average debt at graduation at both public and private four-year colleges actually went down ever so slightly, when adjusted for inflation, between 2007-8 and 2008-9.

For more information on how to get money for college, visit our College Scholarships page.

Share the knowledge: