— Democrats' latest draft of the Build Back Better plan calls for adding an extra $550 to the maximum Pell grant in each of the next four school years. The maximum Pell award would immediately jump from the current $6,495 to $7,045, though it could go higher if Congress continues to fund annual increases (as the White House and Democrats are pushing to do). — But unlike previous proposals, the latest Pell grant increase would be available only to students at public and non-profit institutions, excluding for-profit colleges. That's a drastic shift in how Pell grant funding has historically worked — as a voucher to which students are entitled based on family income, not the type of college they want to attend. — A House Democratic aide said the change was the result of lawmakers having to find places to cut as they were forced to scale back the entire package to fit a smaller top-line budget amount. Democrats wanted to avoid having the remaining funds subsidize a sector of higher education that many in the caucus believe serves students poorly, the aide said. — A preliminary Congressional Budget Office score circulating on the Hill shows that excluding for-profit colleges from the $550 Pell increase would save roughly $1.3 billion over the next decade, according to a person familiar with the estimate. Restoring funding for the sector could require finding an offset elsewhere in the bill; for-profit colleges are pointing lawmakers to the estimated $13.7 billion surplus in the Pell grant program. — About 14 percent of federal Pell dollars go to students at for-profit colleges, according to the Education Department's most recent budget data. In the 2019-20 school year, roughly 900,000 Pell grant recipients attended for-profit colleges compared to about 5.8 million at public and private, non-profit colleges. — Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) led the bill changes in the House, as chair of the House education committee. But it was negotiated as part of an overarching deal with the White House and Senate. In a statement, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) touted the increase in Pell for "all public and private non-profit schools" as part of a "historic opportunity to expand access to quality higher education." — For-profit colleges are pushing back as the House moves toward a vote. They're arguing that the plan unfairly targets the low-income students who attend their institutions. — Democrats "clearly hoped they would be able to slip this in and nobody would notice, and the process would move so quickly that nothing could be done about it. Of course that hasn't been the case," said Jason Altmire, the former Democratic congressman who now leads Career Education Colleges and Universities, the main trade association for the industry. "It is clearly an attempt to dissuade students from going to a for-profit school," he added. — More than a dozen House Democrats have backed for-profit colleges in the fight. Thirteen House Democrats, led by Rep. Al Lawson (D-Fla.) sent a letter to Democratic leaders urging them to rescind the proposal and make for-profit college students eligible for the Pell increase. — None of the House Democrats indicated in their letter that they would withhold their vote for the entire social spending bill over the Pell grant issue. But even if it passes the House, the Pell proposal could run into trouble in the Senate. For example, both Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) represent states with two large for-profit colleges: the University of Phoenix and American Public Education, respectively. Neither office responded to an inquiry about the issue. | 
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