Pell Grant Validation Imposes Some Costs and Does Not Greatly Reduce Award Errors: New Strategies Are Needed

摘要

In 1982-83, in an effort to reduce the continuing problem of error in awarding Pell grants for postsecondary education, the Department of Education increased to 1.66 million the number of applicants who must document or 'validate' their eligibility. This increased validation imposed some costs and burdens on the schools and had some impacts on students. The Department's studies, while limited in some respects, identify continuing problems with award accuracy. The error is sizable: underawards and overawards totaled an estimated $649 million in 1982-83, despite the increased validation. The error is also persistent: the proportion of cases with student error has not decreased. Further, the Department's policy focused on student error and on overawards rather than on both institutional and student error and on both overawards and underawards.