The Obama administration wants to help more students graduate from college by giving them money to attend classes year round and by rewarding them for taking more credits each academic year, according to Huffington Post College.
Two new proposals were announced Tuesday that would expand the already $29 billion program by $2 billion in the new fiscal year.
The first proposal, known as the Pell for Accelerated Completion, would help low-income students Pell earn money to take classes during a third semester letting them to take classes over summer, according to the Huffington Post.
The On-Track Pell Bonus is the second proposal. It would reward students $300 for taking more than 15 credit hours during an academic year, according to the Huffington Post.
Eighty-percent of the wealthiest high school graduates continue into higher education, said John King Jr., Acting Secretary of Education, while just over half of the lowest-income students do, according to the Huffington Post.
Pell grants are meant to help students in financial need and do not have to be repaid.
According to the Huffington Post, the Pell proposal aimed at funding students to take on another semester, could help as many as 700,000 students with $1900, on average.
The $300 reward could help as many as 2.3 million students, according to the education department, according to the Huffington Post.
The increase would require congressional approval.
The government awarded $28.7 billion in Pell grants to almost 8.3 million students in the 2015 fiscal year. The average Pell grant was about $3,600. The maximum Pell award for the 2015-2016 school year is $5,775, according to the Huffington Post.
