Senator Urges DOE to Restore Pell Grants Eligibility

(Washington, D.C) – Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, sent a letter urging the U.S. Department of Education (“the Department”) to consider using a provision of the Higher Education Act (HEA) to restore Pell Grant eligibility to low-income students impacted by the closures of ITT Technical Institute (“ITT Tech”) and Corinthian Colleges. Because Pell Grant recipients have restrictive limits on the total number of semesters they can receive support through the program, many of the students who used Pell Grants to attend ITT Tech and Corinthian Colleges may have exhausted their eligibility and may therefore be ineligible for sufficient support to finish their education at a new school.