Blacks More Than Twice as Likely as Whites to Receive Federal Pell Grants

New data published by the U.S. Department of Education shows that 27.3 percent of all undergraduate students received a federal Pell Grant in the 2007-08 academic year. Pell Grants are reserved for students from families with low incomes. Because black families have median incomes that are about 62 percent of the median incomes of whites, it is likely to assume that a greater precentage of students from black families are eligible for Pell Grants.

This is indeed the case. The Department of Education data shows that 46.3 percent of all African-American undergraduate students receive Pell Grants. This is more than double the rate for whites. Slightly over 20 percent of white students receive Pell Grants.

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