Madison Benoit ‘29

by Madison Benoit ‘29 on October 2, 2025

Rhode Island lawmakers are among those pushing back against a proposal that would rename a new type of Pell Grant to “Trump Grants.” Pell Grants are scholarships specifically reserved for undergraduate students with the most financial need. 

The grants are named in honor of former U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell, a Democrat who spent 36 years representing Rhode Island, making him the state’s longest-serving senator. He played a key role in enacting the grants and always said they were his greatest achievement.          

Through the current program, qualifying Americans can receive up to $7,395 annually for around six years. These grants don’t usually need to be paid back, but they also do not cover the full costs of attending college. In the 2023 fiscal year, 31 billion dollars in Pell Grants were awarded to about 6.5 million undergraduate students, according to the Department of Education.

The name change is included in a House spending bill for the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education for the next fiscal year. Although changes to the grants were made when President Donald Trump signed the major tax and spending cuts package in July, these changes include a new grant called the Workforce Pell Grant. Next year, students who are enrolled in certain career training programs will be able to receive Pell Grants. 

In a letter to the chair and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Congressmen Gabe Amo and Congressman Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island argued against the name change. They stated that Rhode Island’s longest-serving U.S. senator was a visionary public servant and any attempt to erase Senator Pell’s name was a “profound insult” to the senator’s legacy. They described him as a senator who saw the barriers that prevented millions of Americans from accessing higher education and wished to break them down. 

The Congressmen also pointed out Trump’s own record in education, which includes his efforts to dismantle the Department of Education and freeze federal funding at institutions of higher education. 

Senator Pell died in 2009 at the age of 90, but he is remembered by his longstanding service to Rhode Island and education. His other notable actions include helping to establish the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.