Just because students get a Pell Grant—federal aid that goes to families who generally earn $30,000 or less—doesn't mean their college gives them much of a break on tuition.
A new analysis of college aid by Stephen Burd, a senior policy analyst at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit public-policy institute, looked at the share of undergraduates receiving Pell Grants and the net price they paid. It found hundreds of public and private nonprofit colleges expect the neediest students to pay an amount that is equal to or even more than their families' yearly earnings.
Nearly two-thirds of the 426 private institutions Burd examined charge students from the lowest-income families, those making $30,000 or less a year, a net price of more than $15,000 a year.
