Federal grant program facing multi-billion dollar deficit

Collage by Riley LeBlanc, Photographer

What would you do if $5,500 were taken from you?

Unfortunately, millions of students across the country might not have to imagine.

The Pell Grant program, which over a thousand of Chapman students utilize, is facing a multi-billion dollar deficit. If not properly addressed, this could lead to the loss of crucial tuition money for students.

With the price of a college education reaching an all-time high, financial aid is quickly becoming an increasing necessity for students.

“If I had to pay full tuition, there’s no chance I would have been able to afford (Chapman),” freshman chemistry major Connor Sinclair said. “My family just can’t do that.”

Currently, 81% of Chapman students join Sinclair in this dilemma, with students receiving $241,684,396 of grants, scholarships and loans.

Nearly $250 million is required to assist students attending Chapman, showing the value behind programs like the Pell Grant, which contributes nearly $10 million.

The shortfall of money behind the Pell Grant is not a new issue. Recently, the Trump administration added $10.5 billion to the fund via the One Big Beautiful Bill, as it was the amount estimated the program would need to remain afloat.

This figure ended up falling far short of what was actually needed for the millions who were awarded the Pell Grant. Currently, the grant is projected to face a $5.5 billion deficit by September.

If this deficiency is not properly addressed, lower-income students this grant was created for will be forced to return to borrowing federal loans. These loans are often Parent PLUS loans, which, as Inside Higher Ed found, are unaffordable for the students pushed to use them.

Freshman physics major Marley Zohar echoed this concern.

“Loans are kind of a scary thing,” Zohar said. “My mom still has student loans from when she was in school… She didn’t want her kids to have to deal with that.”

Zohar’s issue of student debt over generations is not a one-of-a-kind concern. One in four Americans under 40 are still paying off their loans from school. Concerns like these are the reason opportunities like the Pell Grant were created.

The concerns raised by the shortfall of the Pell Grant reflect larger questions about the affordability of a college education. At Chapman, the cost of tuition is already up approximately $30,000 from ten years ago. Adding this dramatic price increase to the loss of grants could lead to a financial disaster and student inaccessibility.

“The area I come from back home isn’t the wealthiest area… I know a lot of kids didn’t apply to any private schools and only went to California state schools or UC schools because of the big financial burden; a lot will also turn to community college,” freshman business administration major Luke Weaver said. “Aid and grants opens the door to private schools.”

The gap between financial aid and the cost of a degree is growing. Losing the Pell Grant, a necessary piece of the puzzle, would only make access to education harder.