Kaz Komolafe and Sarah Hunter Simanson

Subcommittee passes Pell Grant funding

A Senate subcommittee approved a bill last week which aims to maintain the maximum Pell Grant award for the 2012 fiscal year. The bill provides $158 billion for programs which train workers, provide youth with skills for future success, locate fraud and abuse of governmental programs, and incentivize reforms to health, workforce and education systems, according to a Senate Committee on Appropriations press release. The Pell Grant is the cornerstone of the federal undergraduate financial aid program, and it offers students whose expected family contribution falls beneath a certain level a maximum award of $5,550 for 18 semesters, said Haley Chitty, director of communications at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.