Scholars Debate Tying Pell Grants to College Completion

One way to make federal financial aid go further in a time of rising tuition prices is to link Pell Grant awards to students' academic readiness and performance in college, Isabel Sawhill, co-director of the Brookings Institution's Center on Children and Families and the Budgeting for National Priorities Project, argues in an essay published today by EducationNext. Another scholar, Sara Goldrick-Rab of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, offers a counterpoint, arguing that conditioning Pell Grants on academic performance would decrease, not increase, their cost effectiveness.