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Both stimulus and budget send dollars to Pell Grants
President Barack Obama is a big fan of Pell Grants, a federal program that helps low-income students pay for college.
He kicked off his Pell Grant efforts by signing the stimulus bill, which sent an additional $15.6 billion to the grants and another $200 million to work-study programs. Taken together with other previously approved funding, the maximum Pell Grant per student would be $5,350 for the school year starting in 2009.
Obama's budget outline, released Feb. 26, 2009, proposes enough money to boost the maximum Pell Grant to $5,550 for 2010. In addition, his budget would require Pell Grants to receive automatic funding each year and index the grants to inflation. That indexing was a key part of his promise.
Obama still must get his budget through Congress. His proposal to expand Pell Grants gets this promise to In the Works.
Our Sources
Thomas, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Speaker of the House Web site, Joint Explanatory Statement: Section A , p. 65, Feb. 12, 2009 (pdf document)
Office of Budget and Management, Budget Documents for Fiscal Year 2010 , accessed Feb. 26, 2009
Office of Budget and Management, Summary Tables , Table S-6, page 124, accessed Feb. 26, 2009