The Middle Class Supports. A college education is an integral part of the American Dream. On average, college graduates earn 73 percent more over the course of their working lives than those with only a high school diploma. These benefits go far beyond the individual: the median college graduate contributes 44% more in annual tax revenues than the median high school graduate.

Pell Grants are the most widely-used federal college assistance program, serving 4.8 million Americans. Historically, Pell Grants provided an opportunity for students from low-income families to join the middle class, with the nation as a whole reaping the benefits of the higher tax payments, lower reliance on the publicly-funded safety net, lower incarceration rates, and increased civic participation of college graduates. Yet the maximum Pell Grant was last increased three years ago, and then it only went up by $50. In 2004, the average tuition and fees at a public four-year college was $5,132—an increase of 10.5 percent over the previous year. To pay for these increased costs, college students and their parents too often resort to taking on unsustainable amounts of debt.