Nunn Says 4,095 Students Got Pell Grants for 11 Years or More

WASHINGTON — More than 4,000 students have collected Pell grants for 11 years or more, and in one case a student got the federal money for 19 years, Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) said Wednesday.

The Education Department discovered the long-term tuition subsidies for 4,095 students when it examined its files to answer a series of questions Nunn had posed as part of a probe by the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations.

“I am not surprised by this revelation,” Nunn said in a statement. “The Department of Education has been managed so poorly in the past that it did not even know this apparent abuse had been occurring.”

The disclosure came as Nunn announced hearings for next Wednesday and Thursday on problems in the program, the government’s largest cash aid plan for students in post-secondary education.

Some 3.8 million of America’s neediest students received an average of $1,763 each last year in Pell grants at 6,300 eligible schools.

David Longanecker, assistant secretary for post-secondary education, said federal policy on how long students can receive Pell grants has changed several times over the years.

He said it is not currently illegal for grants to be extended well beyond the normal four-year span of a conventional undergraduate college education.

But Nunn made it clear he believes the program is out of control.

Committee investigators have discovered schools that exist only to milk the program for federal subsidies, he said. Other schools pay students apparent kickbacks to attend classes and let their names be used on grant applications. And still others routinely falsify records to win grants for ineligible students, Nunn said.

The department mailed notices Monday informing 21 orthodox Jewish schools, all but one in the New York City area, that they were being barred from Pell grants and other federal student aid programs because their programs did not provide training aimed at job goals.

A U.S. grand jury in New York is investigating dozens of Hasidic Jewish schools and other institutions over alleged abuses in the $6.7-billion Pell Grant program.