NJ Higher Ed Presidents Pen Letter to Congress Advocating Pell Grant Increases

To the New Jersey Congressional Delegation 

Dear Members of Congress: 

On behalf of our institutions—and, more important, on behalf of students of modest means  throughout New Jersey and across the country—we write to urge your support for doubling the  maximum Pell Grant award as you develop and vote on a budget reconciliation package this month. 

At the time of its enactment, the Pell Grant covered nearly 80 percent of the cost of attending a  public four-year college. However, the Pell now accounts for less than 30 percent of the cost of  attendance, and it is time for a dramatic recalibration of this vital program to restore the promise of  Pell to make college possible for the next generation of postsecondary students. 

Here in New Jersey, more than 150,000 students each year receive Pell Grants, part of a current  universe of 7 million Pell recipients nationwide—including a clear majority of Black students and  about half of Latinx students currently enrolled in college. We know there are other potential Pell  recipients who believe a college education is beyond their means and thus do not even apply for this  benefit. For those students, the wealth gap will only grow wider. 

It is exciting and gratifying to see that Congress and the President have been considering ways to  help make college more affordable. A college degree is a hugely important tool of social mobility  that opens a wide range of opportunities for careers that can transform the lives of students and their  families, in addition to propelling economic prosperity and job growth. 

Doubling the maximum Pell Grant will help more students from low- and middle-income families  to get to and through college. That helps everyone: by cultivating talent from every sector of  society, we make our state, and our country, stronger and better. 

We believe that, among many thoughtful proposals for increasing access to higher education,  doubling the maximum Pell Grant award should be the foundation upon which other efforts can be  built. Pell is a proven program, and in combination with other federal aid, state aid, and  institutional grants, has provided millions of low-income students a wide array of postsecondary  opportunities at both two- and four-year colleges and universities. 

With our continued gratitude for the relief funds that you and your colleagues helped make  available to New Jersey college students during the pandemic, we ask that you support this long term investment in our nation’s and the state’s young people, for whom a college education will be  life-changing. 

Sincerely, 

Christopher L. Eisgruber, President, Princeton University 

Jonathan Holloway, Ph.D., President, Rutgers, The State University of  New Jersey

Barbara Gaba, Ph.D., President, Atlantic Cape Community College

Rabbi Aaron Kotler, President, Beth Medrash Govoha 

Eric Friedman, Ph.D., President, Bergen Community College 

Marcheta Evans, Ph.D., President, Bloomfield College 

David Stout, Ph.D., President, Brookdale Community College 

Matthew Whelan, Ed.D. President, Caldwell University 

Donald A. Borden, President, Camden County College 

Bruce Murphy, Ed.D., President, Centenary University 

Kathryn A. Foster, Ph.D., President, The College of New Jersey

Thomas J. Schwarz, Interim President, Drew University 

Anthony J. Iacono, Ph.D., President, County College of Morris 

Augustine Boakye, Ph.D., Interim President, Essex County College 

Christopher A. Capuano, Ph.D., President, Fairleigh Dickinson University 

J.W Crawford, III, President, Felician University

Joseph R. Marbach, Ph.D., President, Georgian Court University 

Lamont Repollet, Ed.D., President, Kean University 

Christopher M. Reber, Ph.D., President, Hudson County Community College 

Jianping Wang, Ed.D., President, Mercer County Community  College 

Mark McCormick, J.D., Ed.D., President, Middlesex County College 

Patrick Leahy, Ed.D., President, Monmouth University 

Jonathan GS Koppell, Ph.D., President, Montclair State University

Joel Bloom, Ed.D., President, New Jersey Institute of Technology 

Sue Henderson, Ph.D., President, New Jersey City University

Jon H. Larson, Ph.D., President, Ocean County College 

Steven M. Rose, Ed.D., President, Passaic County Community College 

Cindy R. Jebb, Ph.D., President, Ramapo College of New Jersey 

Michael J. McDonough, Ph.D., President, Raritan Valley Community College 

Gregory J. Dell’Omo, Ph.D. President, Rider University

Michael A. Cioce, Ed.D., President, Rowan College at Burlington County  

Frederick Keating, Ed.D., President, Rowan College of South Jersey 

Ali A. Houshmand, Ph.D., President, Rowan University 

Gary B. Crosby, Ph.D., President, Saint Elizabeth University 

Eugene J. Cornacchia, Ph.D., President, Saint Peter’s University 

Michael R. Gorman, Ed.D., President, Salem Community College 

Joseph Nyre, Ph.D., President, Seton Hall University 

Nariman Farvardin, Ph.D., President, Stevens Institute 

Harvey Kesselman, Ed.D., President, Stockton University 

Jon H. Connolly, President, Sussex County Community College 

Merodie A. Hancock, Ph.D., President, Thomas Edison State University 

Margaret M. McMenamin, Ed.D, President, Union County College 

William J. Austin, Ed.D., President, Warren County Community College

Richard J. Helldobler, Ph.D., President, William Paterson University