Pell Grant Equity Act of 2007

PELL GRANT EQUITY ACT OF 2007

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Mr. HARE. Mr. Speaker, part of our job in Congress is to ensure that every American has the right to a higher education. Unfortunately, a provision in the Higher Education Act makes it difficult for people of low incomes who attend schools with low tuitions to receive the assistance they need.

I rise in strong support of the Pell Grant Equity Act, which provides low-income students the opportunity to go to college by eliminating the ``tuition sensitivity provision.' This provision prohibits maximum Pell grant awards to students attending low-tuition institutions of higher education even if their income is low enough to otherwise qualify for the maximum award.

As implemented by the U.S. Department of Education, ``tuition sensitivity' is intended to reduce the Pell grant for low-income students who attend very low tuition schools as a cost-saving measure. Unfortunately, the students most negatively impacted by this policy are the poorest students who still cannot afford the lower tuition.

As I have been saying throughout my district this past week, education is an investment not an expenditure. We must invest in our students now or be forced to pay more later. We can start this investment by passing the Pell Grant Equity Act, allowing approximately 96,000 of our poorest students to receive the financial assistance they need in the upcoming academic year.

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