Michael Pierce

California State University, San Bernadino

The Pell Grant has allowed Michael, who plans to become a physician, to reduce his workload outside of school “and focus on learning material that was covered in class.”

He notes, however, that while his current Pell Grant award covers most of his tuition, he still has to figure out how to afford all his other expenses.

If Congress doubled the maximum Pell Grant, Michael says, he would not have to continue “making difficult decisions between studying for exams, or picking up extra hours to be a little more financially secure.”