Today the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) released the latest quarterly policy brief titled “Promoting Educational Opportunity: The Pell Grant at Community Colleges.”  The brief outlines, terms of student and community benefits,  why community colleges are a sound investment.examines historical and programmatic nature of the Pell Grant program and investigate how it has come to form trends up through the 2010-2011 program year.  Underlying the examination is the use and importance of the program to college students, with a focus on those attending community colleges. 

The policy brief is available on the AACC website: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Publications/Briefs/Pages/pb07212011.aspx

A few facts of note:

The $5,550 Pell Grant in 2010–2011 accounted for just 28.9% of a student’s estimated total budget for nine months of education.

Whereas only 40% of all community college students enroll full time, nearly double that percentage of community college students receiving a Pell Grant were enrolled full time in 2009–2010.