The number of federally funded Pell Grants recipients will increase starting next year’s semester.
Up to 610,000 additional students will receive financial aid, the Department of Education said on November 15, thanks to changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that will make it easier to qualify starting in 2024.
The number of students receiving the maximum amount of Pell Grants will also increase by 1.489 million, bringing the total number of students receiving financial aid to about 5.1 million nationwide.
In California alone, the program will help 59,005 new students from low-income backgrounds receive Federal Pell Grants. The new FAFSA form will also help 177,362 more students receive the maximum Pell Grant.
In 2020, Congress passed a law to simplify the FAFSA form to make it easier for college applicants to apply for and receive Pell Grants.
Since then, the Department of Education has been working to reduce the form from more than 100 questions to 20 to 30.
As part of the process, it is also reportedly changing the parental income threshold used to calculate grant amounts to the federal poverty line, which is based on income, assets, and family size.
The revised FAFSA, which will have up to 18 questions, is expected to be released by the end of December, according to the Department of Education.
BY NICOLE CHANG, JUNHAN PARK [chang.nicole@koreadaily.com]
