ATL Standard

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) aims to expand the federal Pell Grant Program to provide Georgians with better access to public colleges and HBCUs. 

The Pell Grant expansion Ossoff proposed would bring financial aid specifically to low-income Georgia residents who make less than $40,000 a year and would actively struggle to afford the costs of higher education, according to a press release from Ossoff. 

"We need to strengthen and expand Pell Grants to make college affordable for all," said Ossoff in a tweet last month. 

In order to find support, Ossoff called on Senate leadership and asked them to expand the program in the upcoming Senate budget legislation. Ossoff cited the rising costs of tuition fees in colleges and universities across the country as the main reason for expanding the program, according to the press release. 

“The kind of opportunity that access to public college and HBCU education without debt would make for the people of Georgia would be extraordinary,” Ossoff said in the press release. “And that’s why I’m advocating now that this Congress act to expand the Pell Grant Program to make higher education accessible to all Americans, through our public colleges and HBCUs.”

Ossoff's plan is to expand the program and help Georgia residents receive college degrees from public universities without debt.