Obama Budget: Pell Grant To Be Indexed To Inflation, Aid Application Process To Be Simplified

Here is the section in the budget blueprint under the Department of Education pertaining to Pell Grants:

Expands Pell Grants and Puts the Program on Sure footing.
Because the Administration is committed to making college affordable for all Americans, the 2010 Budget builds on the recovery Act by supporting a $5,550 Pell Grant maximum award in the 2010-2011 school year. But it is not enough just to make Pell Grants more generous and to put on a short-term patch. Fourteen times since 1973, the maximum Pell Grant has failed to increase even in nominal dollars. To make sure that we have a highly-educated workforce and that the opportunity to go to college is not determined by how much money you have, we need to put the Pell Grant program on sure footing. The Administration will index Pell grants to the Consumer Price Index plus 1 percent in order to address inflation. In addition, the Administration proposes to make the Pell Grant program mandatory to ensure a regular stream of funding and eliminate the practice of “backfilling” billions of dollars in Pell shortfalls each year. Finally, while expanding student aid, the Administration will also simplify the student aid application process.