Back

The Pell Grant is targeted to students with the greatest financial need, and many policymakers find the Pell Grant a useful policy lever for promoting access and success for students from lower- and moderate-income backgrounds. There are several examples where policymakers use Pell eligibility to allocate resources and hold colleges accountable for their outcomes; however, basic information about Pell access and completion is not well documented in policy research.

To address this challenge—and to provide baseline statistics useful in policy conversations—this analysis from the Institute for College Access & Success provides new information about Pell enrollments and degree completion rates for public and non-profit four-year universities.