In 1972, the U.S. Congress authorized the Pell Grant program with the passage of the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant Program. The initiative provides financial awards to undergraduate students who demonstrate significant financial need. According to federal data, nearly 40 percent of all undergraduates and roughly 60 percent of all Black undergraduate students were Pell Grant recipients in 2015-2016.
While the country’s elite private colleges and universities enroll a small proportion of American students, they have very large endowments that provide high-quality educational opportunities not seen at other institutions. Despite these colleges and universities’ capabilities to support low-income students, Pell Grant recipients have been historically underrepresented in their student bodies.
A new study by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C., has tracked Pell Grant enrollment trends at private colleges and universities with very large endowments (over $500,000 per full-time student) and large endowments (between $250,000 and $500,000 per full-time student). Although Pell Grant recipients remain underrepresented at these institutions, some progress has been made in recent years.
During the 2007-2008 academic year, 12.2 percent of students at institutions with very large endowments and 12.0 percent of students at institutions with large endowments were Pell-eligible. By the 2023-2024 school year, their representation jumped to 18.5 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively.
According to the Brookings study, many elite private colleges and universities have “need-blind” admissions policies, meaning applicants are evaluated without regard for socioeconomic status. This suggests that the increase in the number of Pell Grant recipients enrolled at these institutions is partly due to an increase in highly-qualified, Pell-eligible student applicants.
“The modest progress in the enrollment of Pell-eligible students that has taken place at highly endowed institutions needs to continue,” writes author Phillip Levine. “There are many barriers that limit the likelihood that lower-income students will be academically qualified to enroll in these highly selective colleges. But those who can succeed in that environment deserve the opportunity to ascend the economic ladder.”
