Liberty's Growing Federal Aid Total

The top recipient of federal student aid in Virginia is Liberty University, which last year took in $445 million in such funds, largely because of the rapid growth of Liberty's online programs, The News & Advance reported. While Liberty has 12,000 residential students, it now has 52,000 online students. The news has prompted considerable online commentary about the flow of funds to Liberty at a time that conservative lawmakers are trying to cut Pell Grants and other programs. Salon noted that Liberty received more federal funds last year than the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.