Students who receive Pell Grants make up a sizable share of the nation’s undergraduates — nearly four out of every 10 students. They also tend to graduate at lower rates than their peers.
While it’s been noted that Pell numbers are not an exact proxy for a student’s low-income status, they are still a useful indicator. According to the Biden administration, two-thirds of Pell recipients are from households with incomes below $30,000, and 93 percent are from households with incomes below $60,000.
The most recent Department of Education data, covering 2023 enrollment and six-year graduation rates, shed insight on where Pell students tend to go to college and what their graduation rates are — where they’re close to that of their peers, and where they lag. Here’s what we found.
Enrollment Trends
Graduation Rates
Traditionally, Pell students at four-year institutions have graduated at lower rates than the overall student population. That trend continued in 2023.
But not all students who receive Pell Grants have the same odds of success. Some colleges do a better job than others of graduating Pell students relative to those who don’t receive Pell Grants.
Here are a few institutions that stand out for their type.
- Highest number of Pell students at a public institution: 3,850, at Arizona State University.
- Highest number of Pell students at a historically Black college: 1,485, at Prairie View A&M University.
- Highest number of students at a for-profit institution: 2,850, at Full Sail University.
- Highest number of Pell students at a private college: 1,270, at St. John’s University, in New York.
- Institution with the highest number of Pell students whose graduation rate is within 1 percent of non-Pell students: the University of California at Riverside, which had 2,296 Pell students (76.6 percent) graduate (versus 77 percent of non-Pell students).
- Highest graduation rate for Pell recipients: 97.6 percent, at Williams College, in Massachusetts.
Methodology
Data are from the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Only U.S. degree-granting institutions eligible to participate in Title IV are included. Enrollment data are for first-time full-time degree-seeking students only. Graduation numbers are six-year graduation rates for bachelor’s-degree-seeking students at bachelor’s-degree-granting institutions only and are for students who entered in 2017.
