Higher Education Opportunity Through Pell Grant Expansion Act

The Higher Education Opportunity Through Pell Grant Expansion Act (S. 697) was designed to increase the maximum Federal Pell Grant award to $5,100 for the 2005-2006 academic year. To ensure the grant kept pace with the cost of living, the bill required the Department of Education to adjust the maximum award amount every two years based on inflation. Additionally, the legislation sought to protect student eligibility by preventing certain tax calculation changes from reducing financial aid packages.

To fund these increases, the bill proposed eliminating certain special allowance payments to student loan lenders and requiring those lenders to pay "windfall profit" offsets to the government. For the average student, this bill would have provided more direct grant money for college tuition and fees while reducing the impact of inflation on their financial aid over time. Although introduced in 2005, the bill did not advance past the introductory stage in the Senate.