Re: #127
If you want to set a threshold of high school / test score performance for Pell grant eligibility (like what some states do for state grant eligibility), then you need to determine what the threshold level is where there is a positive net benefit (i.e. aggregate gains (both to the individuals and to the greater economy/society) from those who upgrade their standing in the labor market minus losses from those who do not, or whose labor market upgrades do not even reach the level of the cost of the Pell grants) and set the threshold there.
Even then, you also need to figure out how to handle non-traditional students who may have been goof-offs in high school years ago but have matured enough to be capable of attending college and significantly upgrading their labor market standing to contribute far more than what a Pell grant for them would cost.
The existence of open admission public community colleges with transfer pathways to four year schools is an implicit statement that everyone can have the opportunity to try college, even though not all who try will succeed. That seems to be more consistent with the idea of the US wanting to be a “land of opportunity” rather than a place where doors are easily closed forever to late bloomers.