Key Takeaways
- About 1 in 6 college students currently rely on Pell Grants to pay for college tuition and expenses.
- Half of those recipients come from families earning less than $20,000 a year.
- They include numerous future teachers who couldn’t possibly afford college—and a career in teaching—without federal support.
When college student Alayna Nance goes to the grocery store, she doesn’t buy fruit. She doesn’t buy chicken. She can’t afford it.
“I go in with a list because if I don’t, I know I’ll want too much,” says Nance, a future teacher and junior at Illinois State University. “It’s embarrassing to have to put things back at the grocery store, to have to put back the chicken because I can’t afford to buy chicken. I can’t afford to buy fruit. Sometimes I just really want a cold, crisp glass of lemonade, and I can’t afford it.”
Nance lives frugally with three other girls, “shops” for clothes at the free, on-campus clothing pantry, and works three part-time jobs. She also relies heavily on her federal Pell Grant.
“Realistically, if I lost my Pell Grant, I could not continue school,” says Nance, vice chair of the Illinois Education Association Aspiring Educators.
Unfortunately, this is a real possibility. As the Trump administration moves forward with plans to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (ED), critical federal programs may end. These include programs providing support to students with disabilities, funding to rural and urban schools serving low-income families, and Pell Grants, which help students from low-income families to attend college.
Instead, this administration wants to fund tax cuts for billionaires, notes NEA President Becky Pringle. “The agenda is clear and dangerous,” she says—and it will not be accepted. “Whether in Washington, with legal actions and lawsuits, or through grassroots actions in communities across the country, educators will continue to protect our students from this reckless agenda.”
The Power of Pell Grants
Today, about one in three U.S. college students—or more than 6 million students across the nation—currently rely on Pell Grants to help pay the enormous costs of college. More than half come from families that earn less than $20,000 a year.
Like Nance, Jillian Buzzard, a future first-grade teacher in Nebraska, wouldn’t be in college without her Pell Grant. Her mom, a single mother, is currently a manager at a Pizza Hut in Iowa, where the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Because of her low wages, she’s unable to provide any financial support to Buzzard.
So, to make ends meet, Buzzard, a Wayne State University senior, has worked 40 hours a week for the past three years as a certified nursing assistant (CNA). “I got certified (as a CNA) coming out of high school because I knew it would be a good-paying job in college,” she says. This semester, she cut back to 30 hours weekly because she’s doing her student teaching (unpaid!)
For many Americans, Pell Grants put college into the realm of possibility—and that was the point when the program was created by Congress in 1972. Since their inception, Pell Grants have helped more than 200 million people from low-income families open the doors to college and become today’s teachers, nurses, engineers, counselors, coaches, pilots, physical therapists, pharmacists, scientists, surgeons, software developers, and more.
It has been a game-changer, noted National Public Radio, in an article celebrating Pell Grant’s 50th anniversary in 2022. Through earning a college degree, these low-income students can pursue their dreams, climb out of poverty, and become productive members of American society.
But the grants certainly don’t cover the entire cost of college—not even close. Skyrocketing tuitions have far outpaced the small increases in Pell that lawmakers have authorized over the years. Fifty years ago, Pell Grants covered about 80 percent of the total costs. Now, with the average Pell Grant at around $4,500 a year and the average cost of in-state tuition and board at nearly $30,000, according to the College Board, Pell covers less than a quarter.
To fill the gap, many Pell recipients search for scholarships and take on student debt.
Pell Grants: Supporting Students Across the U.S.
The Road to Teaching is Paved by Pell
For a couple of years, during middle school, Buzzard wanted to be a heart surgeon. Her seventh-grade teacher told her she could be. Then, eventually, Buzzard realized she wanted to be that teacher—the person who helps kids believe in themselves. “I want to be that person for other kids,” says Buzzard, who is president of the Nebraska State Education Association Aspiring Educators.
Faron Haase, who graduated from Missouri State University in December with his teaching certificate, grew up around people with disabilities, volunteering throughout high school with Special Olympics and similar mentoring programs. He knew he wanted to become a teacher for students with disabilities; he also knew his family couldn’t help him. His mom is an independent dog groomer.
As an undergraduate, while relying on Pell Grants to pay tuition and living expenses, Haase also worked two on-campus jobs and various off-campus jobs. “I worked at a restaurant, off and on. I tutored local families. I delivered Uber Eats when I had a random hour. I babysat, picked up kids from school. I did all of that for funds to live on, and I was also extremely involved in extra-curriculars.”
Today, Haase is a graduate student, still at Missouri State, earning a master’s degree in educational technology while also serving on the Missouri NEA Board of Directors.
These aspiring educators are ultra-dedicated to their career path, but it’s far from an easy road. Nance has classmates who talk about choosing to pay for groceries or gas—and they need the gas to get to the schools where they student-teach. They layer sweater on top of sweater because they can’t afford heat.
“There are so many barriers to becoming a teacher,” says Nance, who is studying special education with a concentration in learning and behavior. But one of the biggest, by far, is cost.
“You’re really telling me I can’t afford a strawberry after a long day of student teaching?” says Nance. “I shouldn’t be worried about buying strawberries when I just want to teach a student how to read!”
Investing in Education
Future teachers know they’re not going to get paid much. Indeed, in Nebraska, the average starting salary for new teachers was $37,797, according to the most recent NEA salary data.
“Obviously, in the education field, we’re already short on teachers,” points out Buzzard, the future Nebraska teacher. “Why would somebody want to go $60,000 in debt for a job that doesn’t even pay $40,000?”
Across the nation, there is a critical shortage of teachers. Three-quarters of U.S. schools reported having a difficult time filling their teacher vacancies before the school year started, according to survey released by the National Center of Education Statistics. In Florida alone, there were still 3,000 teacher vacancies last month.
For future teachers especially, Pell Grants make the difference in making college affordable—and a career in education attainable. “There are many, many other students who have told me that if Pell goes away, they won’t be able to continue their degrees,” says Buzzard.
“Honestly, you get what you pay for. Quality education and an educated society come at a cost, and I think students are worth investing in,” says Haase. “Education is an investment and I think it’s one that is extremely worth it, for the sake of our society and our children’s world.”
