Researchers Examine ‘High Performing Pell’ Institutions
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
A group of researchers conducted a study to identify “High Performing Pell” institutions (HPPs), defined as institutions that have multiple measures of success at serving students from lower-income backgrounds.
To find HPPs, the researchers, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Minnesota Rochester, developed a model and identified 149 HPPs that have high levels of low-income student completion, low gaps in access and attainment between lower- and higher-income students, and have high earnings among graduates.
To create this model, the researchers used data primarily from the Department of Education’s (ED) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. The researchers also used data from the American Council on Education (ACE) and Carnegie Foundation’s 2025 Student Access and Earnings Classifications (SAEC).
Researchers first identified institutions with Pell graduation rates above the national median of 50% in 2019-20, and below-median gaps in graduation rates between Pell and non-Pell recipient students. The researchers noted that 584 institutions met this criteria.
From there, the researchers identified institutions with high post-graduation earnings, meaning institutions with high levels of performance at raising graduates’ earnings relative to peers in the context of state demographics and local labor markets. The researchers noted that 349 institutions met this second criteria.
Lastly, the researchers considered institutions’ Pell graduation rates relative to where they would expect them to be given specific features related to low-income student success, including student demographics and institutional features. Through this, the researchers compared institutions’ actual Pell graduation rates to predicted Pell graduation rates, which allowed them to identify institutions that perform better-than-expected. The researchers noted that 829 institutions met this criteria and had higher-than-predicted Pell graduation rates.
Using these three criteria together, the researchers identified 149 institutions and classified them as HPPs.
The 149 institutions have high Pell graduation rates, at 76.5% for 20190-20 compared to a national median of 50%, and also have higher earnings ratios, at 1.89 compared to a sample median of 1.35.
Additionally, roughly 25% of students enrolled at a HPPs institution receive a Pell Grant, with an average award of about $4,940. Over half of students at these institutions are female, at 53.9%, and the majority enroll full-time students, at 91.9%, the researchers found.
The researchers identified that the majority of HPPs are either public or private, not-for-profit institutions, apart from three private, for-profit institutions, the researchers noted.
The researchers noted that HPPs can offer examples of what is possible when campuses center equity in their missions, structures, and practices.
“By identifying institutions that excel in access, completion, and post-graduation earnings for lower-income students, this study provides a new foundation for understanding what it means to be a college or university that truly enrolls and serves lower-income students,” the report reads. “Our conceptual framework and empirical approach reveal that institutional excellence for low-income students is widespread yet unevenly recognized. Moreover, the limited explanatory power of conventional measures suggests that the most critical drivers of low-income student success likely lie in cultural and structural features that demand deeper, richer inquiry.”
Publication Date: 10/28/2026
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