Analysis: Under House Reconciliation Bill, Most Students Would Receive Less Pell Grant Aid
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
With the House having recently passed its reconciliation bill and the Senate now considering how to revise it, two new analyses show how this bill could impact students’ financial aid by either shrinking or completely eliminating their Pell Grant eligibility.
The education portion of the House’s reconciliation bill makes several drastic changes to Department of Education (ED) programs, including the Pell Grant program. One of those changes includes revising the definition of full-time enrollment for Pell Grant eligibility from 12 credit hours to 15 credit hours. Additionally, the bill proposes that students enrolled less than half-time would no longer qualify for Pell Grants.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzed how the House reconciliation bill could impact students' Pell Grant eligibility, along with how much money this could save the government. Specifically, the CBO found that by changing the definition of full-time, more than half of students currently enrolled would receive smaller Pell Grants. Additionally, CBO estimated about one-fifth of expected Pell Grant recipients would enroll in additional credits to increase their award amounts.
Overall, CBO estimated this change in definition would reduce direct spending by $7.1 billion over the legislation’s ten-year period, 2025‑2034.
Additionally, according to ED data, about 10% of Pell Grant recipients were enrolled for less than half time. CBO estimates that under the reconciliation bill, by eliminating Pell Grant eligibility for students enrolled less than half-time, about one-third of Pell recipients would lose their award and would enroll in additional credits. CBO estimated that enacting this provision would reduce direct spending by $687 million over the 2025-2034 period.
The CBO analysis also examined other revisions to the Pell Grant program, including the proposal to eliminate Pell Grant eligibility for students with a high Student Aid Index (SAI). According to CBO, this measure would reduce direct spending by $78 million between 2025 and 2034. By creating a new Workforce Pell Grant, CBO estimated that this would cost the government $298 million for the allotted 10-year period.
Another analysis, done by the Center for American Progress (CAP), also examines how changes to Pell Grant eligibility in the reconciliation bill could impact students’ Pell awards. CAP found, using ED data, that nearly two-thirds of Pell Grant recipients attempted fewer than 30 credits per academic year. That means, under the reconciliation bill’s new definition of “full-time” enrollment, these Pell recipients would be at risk of losing some or all of their funding.
Specifically, during the 2024-25 academic year at four-year institutions, CAP found 44.8% of Pell Grant recipients attempted 30 or more credits in one academic year, and at two-year institutions, 21.4% of Pell Grant recipients attempted 30 or more credits.
Furthermore, CAP estimated that 30.5% of Pell recipients at four-year institutions, and 24.9% of Pell recipients at two-year institutions, attempted 24-29 credits in the 2024-25 academic year. These students are currently considered full-time, but would be considered part-time under the reconciliation bill.
CAP estimated that roughly 2.5 million of the total 6.9 million Pell Grant recipients would qualify as a full-time student under the reconciliation bill’s new definition. That means about 4.4 million students would have their Pell awards prorated based on the number of credits they were enrolled in, or could lose all of their Pell Grant due to the new half-time enrollment requirement.
CAP noted in its analysis that these changes through the reconciliation bill would create challenges for Pell Grant recipients, either by forcing these students to take on more debt, or forcing them to enroll into more courses.
“The Pell Grant should be bolstered to help cover the higher costs of a college education today and to allow students to graduate free of unaffordable student loan debt,” the CAP analysis reads. “A proposal such as the one passed by the House Education and Workforce Committee is a step in the wrong direction, as it increases the burden on students from working families who already struggle to access, afford, and complete college.”
NASFAA is calling on its members to contact their representatives in both the House and Senate on how these reconciliation provisions could impact their students. As for the reconciliation process, the bill now heads to the Senate, though it’s unclear how the chamber will vote on or amend the legislation.
Stay tuned to Today’s News for more updates on the reconciliation process.
Publication Date: 6/3/2025
Armand R | 6/4/2025 12:12:39 PM
CAP is a very liberal group. Their bias should be taken into consideration, especially since there is no conservative counterpart quoted in the article.
Colleges need to stop their wasteful spending and get back to the basics of educating (not indoctrinating). Trim the fat from the budget like families must do when there is no yearly wage increase.
Cheryl F | 6/4/2025 7:48:56 AM
I support eliminating the "min pell/high SAI Pell". I agree that increasing the FT requirements to 15 credit hours should help with completion ratios. However, eliminating Pell for less than HT, will be a detriment to those students who are only able to take 1 or 2 courses at a time.
Peter G | 6/3/2025 1:46:28 PM
While a minor point in the article I think in general we should support the elimination of 'min pell/high SAI pell/Pellionaires/whatever you want to call it.' It was an interesting experiment, but it created an incredible amount of confusion, and if we at least agree that we're in a tight fiscal environment (whatever the cause) it should be the first thing to go. It's not a huge source of savings, but I wouldn't be sorry to see it go.
Lee Ann T | 6/3/2025 10:37:36 AM
By upping the credit hours to 15 and no Pell for PT students will help in completion rates in my opinion. I applaud the current Administration for their efforts in all they have accomplished thus far.
Billy B | 6/3/2025 10:15:38 AM
We just have to remember and never forget for the next election that the cruelty is the point.
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