President Joe Biden
Yet Congress, which holds the government’s purse strings, will make the final call as the midterm elections loom.
“Federal budgets are an expression of values,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel A. Cardona in response to Biden’s budget request. “This proposal reflects the Biden-Harris Administration’s deep belief in the importance of education and the success and wellbeing of our nation’s students.”
With the rising costs of college and steep inflation, many advocates have long pushed to double the Pell Grant maximum to support low- and moderate-income students. Biden’s budget would raise that maximum by $2,175 over the 2021-2022 award year to $8,670 for the 2023-2024 award year. The administration stressed that this would be one step toward doubling Pell by 2029.
“This would be a substantial down payment on the president’s promise to double the maximum Pell Grant, a proven and effective program which helps roughly seven million moderate- and low-income students gain access to postsecondary education each year,” said Dr. Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education (ACE), a higher education advocacy group, in response to the budget. “And it recognizes the singular importance of HBCUs, TCUs, HSIs, and other minority-serving institutions and the need to correct existing inequities in higher education.”
That's because the proposed budget also included $450 million to bolster research and development at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs). In addition, Biden's budget called for a $282 million increase over 2021 levels to strengthen the institutional capacity of HBCUs, TCCUs, MSIs, and other under-resourced institutions.
Responding to the needs of student parents, the budget also requested $95 million to provide affordable childcare for low-income student parents via the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program. 
Dr. Ted Mitchell
