The bigger picture:
The current state of student financial aid may do little to dispel the notion that higher education in the U.S. simply costs too much. For instance, while about 570,000 more students were eligible for the Pell Grant in 2024-2025 than the year before, and about 1.9 million more students were eligible for the maximum award of $7,395 that year, the relative value of the Pell Grant has not kept pace with inflation. Whereas a Pell Grant once covered nearly 80% of the cost of college, for the past two decades or so it has covered only about third or less.
Beyond the declining purchasing power of the Pell Grant, the Pell Grant program itself faces long-term and serious structural deficits. “Over the next decade, the Pell program faces a $104 billion to $132 billion cumulative shortfall,” observes the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, citing figures from the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO.
Still, the authors of the Lumina-Gallup report say that overall interest in pursuing a college degree is reason for optimism. “Americans have not lost faith in higher education. But faith alone will not close the gap between aspiration and attainment,” states the report, which calls for “lowering the financial barriers that shape enrollment decisions before students ever set foot on a campus.”
