This page provides historical figures relating to the Pell Grant. Inflation figures are based on the June Consumer Price Index of each year (June 1973 constant dollars).

Although the Pell Grant began in 1973-74, all undergraduate students first became eligible in 1976-77.

In 2003-04, 97.7% of Pell Grant recipients had a family AGI of less than $50,000.

	Maximum Pell Grant					Maximum Pell Grant Adjusted for Inflation
Award Year	Appropriated	Authorized	Average Pell Grant	Number of Recipients	Total Funding	CPI-U	Tuition Inflation
1973-74	$452	$1,400	$270	176,000	$47,520,000	$452	$452
1974-75	$1,050	$1,400	$628	567,000	$356,076,000	$947	$991
1975-76	$1,400	$1,400	$761	1,217,000	$926,137,000	$1,154	$1,233
1976-77	$1,400	$1,400	$759	1,944,000	$1,475,496,000	$1,089	$1,128
1977-78	$1,400	$1,800	$758	2,011,000	$1,524,338,000	$1,019	$1,044
1978-79	$1,600	$1,800	$814	1,893,000	$1,540,902,000	$1,085	$1,111
1979-80	$1,800	$1,800	$929	2,537,875	$2,357,685,875	$1,100	$1,146
1980-81	$1,750	$1,800	$882	2,707,932	$2,388,396,024	$935	$995
1981-82	$1,670	$1,900	$849	2,709,076	$2,300,005,524	$815	$833
1982-83	$1,800	$2,100	$959	2,522,746	$2,419,313,414	$820	$785
1983-84	$1,800	$2,300	$1,014	2,758,906	$2,797,530,684	$800	$715
1984-85	$1,900	$2,500	$1,111	2,747,100	$3,052,028,100	$810	$699
1985-86	$2,100	$2,600	$1,279	2,813,489	$3,598,452,431	$863	$714
1986-87	$2,100	$2,600	$1,301	2,659,507	$3,460,018,607	$848	$661
1987-88	$2,100	$2,300	$1,303	2,881,547	$3,754,655,741	$818	$616
1988-89	$2,200	$2,500	$1,399	3,198,286	$4,474,402,114	$824	$598
1989-90	$2,300	$2,700	$1,438	3,322,151	$4,777,253,138	$819	$576
1990-91	$2,300	$2,900	$1,449	3,404,810	$4,933,569,690	$783	$534
1991-92	$2,400	$3,100	$1,530	3,786,230	$5,792,931,900	$780	$518
1992-93	$2,400	$3,100	$1,543	4,002,045	$6,175,155,435	$757	$489
1993-94	$2,300	$3,700	$1,506	3,755,675	$5,656,046,550	$704	$442
1994-95	$2,300	$3,900	$1,502	3,674,967	$5,519,800,434	$687	$420
1995-96	$2,340	$4,100	$1,515	3,611,821	$5,471,908,815	$678	$405
1996-97	$2,470	$4,300	$1,577	3,665,654	$5,780,736,358	$697	$407
1997-98	$2,700	$4,500	$1,696	3,732,807	$6,330,840,672	$744	$423
1998-99	$3,000	$4,500	$1,876	3,855,180	$7,232,317,680	$813	$447
1999-00	$3,125	$4,500	$1,933	3,808,269	$7,361,383,977	$831	$445
2000-01	$3,300	$4,800	$2,070	3,880,448	$8,032,527,360	$846	$447
2001-02	$3,750	$5,100	$2,376	4,341,000	$10,314,000,000	$931	$481
2002-03	$4,000	$5,400	$2,338	4,840,000	$11,314,000,000	$983	$485
2003-04	$4,050	$5,800	$2,467	5,141,000	$12,680,295,000	$974	$464
2004-05	$4,050	none specified	$2,441	5,344,000	$13,042,280,000	$944	$437
2005-06	$4,050	none specified	$2,486	5,468,000	$13,591,660,000	$920	$413
2006-07	$4,050	none specified	$2,494	5,165,000	$12,880,787,000
2007-08	$4,310	none specified	$2,620	5,339,000	$13,660,711,000
2008-09	$4,731	none specified	$2,970	6,121,000	$16,256,000,000
2009-10	$5,350	none specified	$3,646	7,738,000	$25,329,000,000
2010-11	$5,550	none specified	$4,115	8,873,000	$32,905,000,000
2011-12	$5,550	none specified
2012-13	$5,550	none specified
2013-14	$5,635	none specified

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 established new mandatory Pell Grant funding in addition to the existing discretionary funding. Pell Grant eligibility remained pegged to the maximum Pell Grant under the discretionary funding. The mandatory Pell Grant funding was set sufficient to yield the following net increases in the amount of the Pell Grant on top of the discretionary funding:

         $490   2008-09
         $490   2009-10
         $690   2010-11
         $690   2011-12
       $1,090   2012-13

       $6,000   2009-10
       $6,400   2010-11
       $6,800   2011-12
       $7,200   2012-13
       $7,600   2013-14
       $8,000   2014-15