Students from low-income backgrounds are experiencing a shrinking pool of truly affordable public postsecondary options and rising unmet need in their pursuit of a degree.
Less than a quarter (23%) of public four-year institutions were affordable for a student receiving an average-sized Pell Grant in 2018-19. During that same period, less than half (41%) of two-year public colleges were affordable for such a student. Nationally,
the average affordability gap, or amount of unmet financial need, for the average Pell recipient in 2018-19 was $2,524 at four-year public institutions and $855 at two-year institutions.
These are key findings from NCAN’s new research examining the public higher education affordability landscape for students receiving Pell Grants. In this refresh “The Growing Gap: Public Higher Education’s Declining Affordability for Pell Grant Recipients,”
the findings are clear: students from low-income backgrounds are increasingly being shut out of public higher education.
To review NCAN’s affordability formula, an interactive dashboard with detailed research findings, and state profiles of affordability, please visit NCAN’s Affordability webpage.
NCAN’s research uses the most recent data available (from the 2018-19 academic year), which reflect the sad state of college affordability even before the COVID-19 pandemic. The scarcity of truly affordable postsecondary education is a trend that predates
the pandemic’s severe economic effects. NCAN members, our students, and a majority of Americans are all too aware of these financial challenges.
We do not yet have data to examine college affordability during the academic years affected by the pandemic. But given the devastating economic effects of COVID-19, it is reasonable to posit that college affordability will only worsen unless policymakers
intervene.
“NCAN's latest research makes clear that affordability in public higher education is at a crisis point,” said NCAN Board President Nathaniel Easley, Ph.D. “Given the inextricable link between affordability and disparities in postsecondary attainment for
students from low-income backgrounds, students of color, and first-generation students, the true cost of not addressing affordability’s worsening trend is impeding progress in closing these equity gaps. Now is the time to invest in our students, in
affordability, and in attainment.”
Pell Does Not Open as Many Doors as It Once Did
Ever-worsening affordability, affirmed by NCAN’s new findings and past research (from 2018,
2019, and 2020),
is an alarming and devastating trend on multiple levels.
The need-based Pell Grant program is the cornerstone of federal investment in higher education. Pell Grants provide crucial financial support for roughly 7 million postsecondary students each year, the majority of whom have family incomes of $40,000 or
less. But the program is not working as it was originally designed to do. In the 44 U.S. states with college affordability gaps at four-year public institutions, students receiving Pell Grants had an average of $3,160 in unmet financial need.
It is worth emphasizing that NCAN’s research looks only at affordability for public colleges and universities. These institutions are supposed to be more accessible, a public investment to ensure the individual and societal benefits that result from greater
educational opportunity are realized. Research has shown that public higher ed institutions can be engines of economic mobility for students from lower-income backgrounds.
But NCAN’s latest analysis shows that 23 states saw decreases in their percentage of affordable public institutions between 2014-15 and 2018-19. In 10 states, there were zero affordable four-year institutions for all five academic years.
As the U.S. begins to focus on an equitable post-COVID recovery, we must collectively address college affordability.
How Affordability Advocates Can Use This Research
NCAN members, including college access programs, can use the interactive Growing Gap dashboard to view affordability trends at the state and institutional levels.
Additionally, NCAN’s state profiles offer a one-stop overview of Pell Grant funding, FAFSA completion, college enrollment, and degree attainment for each state.
Here are some of the ways practitioners can use these tools:
Communications: Program leaders can use NCAN’s affordability research in their communications. They can also use the state-specific data to develop op-eds and media pitches that clearly show how college is becoming increasingly unaffordable
in their state (and what policymakers can do to address the issue).
Fundraising: Development professionals can use the research and resources to support arguments made in grant applications, as well as in fundraising appeals to individual donors who contribute to program supports and scholarships.
Advocacy: These resources can serve as tremendous collateral in your advocacy toolkit. For example, the research provides evidence as to why states need to continue investing in public postsecondary systems and need-based aid programs. Consider
using the research and resources, such as the state profiles, in your advocacy initiatives.
Advising: While the dashboard is not designed as a student-facing tool, advisers can learn more about which institutions generally have more generous financial aid packages in their state.
To address the affordability challenges that exacerbate equity gaps in college attainment, NCAN recommends that Congress double the maximum Pell Grant. Doubling Pell would restore the maximum grant’s purchasing
power to cover half of the cost of attendance for an in-state student at a public four-year university.
Doubling the Pell Grant should be a top priority for policymakers because this action 1) focuses on an existing federal program, 2) is well-targeted to students with the fewest financial resources, and 3) would help students in every state.
President Biden is standing by his campaign promise to double Pell, as demonstrated by the preliminary details of his administration’s first budget. The early budget document called for a $400 increase to the maximum Pell Grant award and labeled such an increase a “first step.”
In this extraordinary moment, NCAN urges policymakers to take extraordinary action. A strong investment in the Pell Grant program would go a long way toward rebuilding public postsecondary education with roots in equity. The policy choices Congress makes
today will have consequences for the potential of a generation of students.
Now is the time to double the maximum Pell Grant and truly address college affordability.
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