How Well Do Colleges That Get the Most Pell Money Do at Graduating Pell Recipients?

Four public, one private nonprofit, and three for-profit four-year colleges received more than $75 million in Pell Grant aid for their undergraduate students in 2016-17. Among the 25 four-year public institutions whose students were awarded the highest total amounts in Pell Grants, the Universities of California at Irvine, Davis, and Riverside had the highest graduation rates for Pell Grant recipients. The University of Southern California, Howard University, and Syracuse University had the highest graduation rates for Pell recipients among the top 25 four-year private nonprofit institutions. All three sectors, on average, had higher graduation rates for non-Pell students than for Pell students. Click on the plus sign at the beginning of each row to see more data.

* Although this institution is categorized as four-year, more than 20 percent of the awards considered for its Pell graduation rate were certificates, associate degrees, or other awards of less than four years, and not bachelor’s degrees.

Note: Institutions are ranked by the total amount of Pell Grant aid received. The analysis includes degree-granting four-year institutions that receive Title IV federal financial aid. It excludes two-year colleges, as well as any colleges with fewer than 20 students in the adjusted Pell subcohort. Averages, however, include all colleges in a sector whose students received Pell Grants. Pell Grants and subsidized Stafford Loans are awarded by the federal government based on demonstrated financial need. The number of undergraduates is for the fall of 2016 for colleges with standard academic terms. For colleges without standard academic terms, the number is the unduplicated full-year count of students enrolled during the 12-month period from September 1, 2016, through August 31, 2017. Graduation rates reflect the percentage of first-time, full-time, bachelor’s-or-other degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates who enrolled in 2011 and completed a bachelor’s or other degree or certificate at the same institution within 150 percent of the normal time (by August 31, 2017). The two adjusted subcohorts include such undergraduates who received Pell Grants, or who received neither Pell Grants nor subsidized federal Stafford Loans. Subcohorts were adjusted to exclude students who died, were permanently disabled, or left to serve in the military or with a foreign-aid agency or official church mission. Students who transferred and then graduated from another institution are not counted in the data as having graduated.

Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data