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<p>Because the US government is in heavy debt, and trying to cut out unnecessary expenses.</p>
<p>A merit (non-need) based award is a government gift, and if the government can’t afford to be giving gifts, then it is something that falls much lower on the priority scale for government spending than money used to fill needs.</p>
<p>I agree with bluebayou as well – I’d like to see Pell’s going only to students attending public universities, or at least a government mandated cap on tuition that can be charged to any student receiving a Pell grant. When my d. was eligible for Pell money at a private college, the college was charging us ~$15K over and above the FAFSA number that qualified her for Pell – so it was using one number when asking for the federal government handout (the money went to the college, not us) – and an entirely different number when figuring out how to spend its own grant money. I don’t really see how that benefited my daughter.</p>
<p>On the other hand, when my son was supporting himself and paying his own way through college at age 24 & qualified for Pell, the amount was enough to pay his full tuition at his state college, with extra left over to go towards his living expenses. (Not so any more, as college tuitions have increased dramatically over the past few years). So I think that the taxpayers were getting more bang for their buck with my son – a full year’s college education rather than a small fraction. </p>
<p>I do think that poor kids should have the opportunity to attend elite private colleges --so the reform I would want to see would be that Pell grants could go only to private colleges which agreed to meet full need based on the FAFSA EFC. No gapping of Pell recipients allowed.</p>