The Democrat National Convention in Charlotte this week is highlighting a variety of agenda items, including higher education and Pell Grants.  This report comes from Inside Higer Ed website, which is covering the event:

“Our president has already doubled Pell Grants, raised education standards, invested in research and development at our universities and early childhood education in our neighborhoods,” said Newark Mayor Cory Booker… “Our platform and our president state it clearly: our nation cannot continue to be the world’s No. 1 economy if we aren’t committed to being the world’s No. 1 educator.”

It seems the each mention of the Pell grant was met with a great deal of enthusiasm on the part of Democratic delegates. However, the report notes that the Pell grant program has not fared as well under the Obama administration as the applause and cheers suggest:

The Obama administration made sustaining the maximum Pell Grant — right now, it’s $5,550 — a priority in each of its annual budgets. Preserving the $5,550 grant required tradeoffs. Those came partly in cuts to other federal financial aid programs (graduate students can no longer take out federally subsidized loans, and some benefits for subsidized undergraduate borrowers have been reduced), but also in changes to the Pell Grant Program itself. Eligibility changes that took effect this summer cut more than 100,000 students from the program, including some part-time students and those who have been enrolled for more than six semesters. An earlier change ended the summer Pell Grant, a cut that many community colleges fear will slow down students on their way to graduation.

The acclaim also fails to underscore some of the severe administrative problems that plague the Pell Grant program. For example, the Florida Times Union offers this article covering troubles at the Florida State College at Jacksonville: Pell Grant problems at FSCJ stem from lax financial aid culture

A “lax culture” and poorly trained staff led to at least 1,300 Florida State College at Jacksonville students receiving Pell Grants they may have to repay, according to an outside review.

Jacksonville attorney Bill Scheu on Tuesday presented the FSCJ Board of Trustees with a 20-page report that said staff didn’t even know about policies it should have used to decide when to award the money…. Scheu criticized former financial aid director Joel Friedman, saying he instituted a “laissez-faire process” but resisted placing fault with current senior administration.