Higher Education

According to records at the Education Department, about 390,000 legal immigrant students received Pell grant aid in academic year 1992-93. This was about 10 percent of all students receiving Pell grants. In total, immigrants received $662 million, or about 11 percent, of Pell grant aid in that year. GAO was unable to determine the total number of legal immigrants who received Stafford loans because citizenship data are not maintained in the Education Department's loan files. Some immigrants who received Pell grants, however, also received Stafford loans totalling $257 million. About 82 percent of the immigrants who received student aid lived in seven states, led by California and New York. Sixty-one percent attended public colleges, 19 percent attended private colleges, and 21 percent attended for-profit vocational schools. The 100 schools with the most immigrant Pell grant recipients accounted for about half of all such students, and 91 percent of these schools were located in the seven states with the highest concentration of immigrant students.

GAO found that: (1) in academic year 1992 to 1993, about 390,000 legal immigrants received Pell grants totalling $662 million, which was about 10 percent of the total number of Pell grants available; (2) about 28 percent of immigrant Pell grant recipients also received about $257 million in Stafford loans, which accounted for about 6 percent of all Stafford loans and about 5 percent of all recipients who received both types of financial aid; (3) the total number of legal immigrants that received Stafford loans could not be determined because citizenship data is not kept on such recipients; (4) legal immigrants received slightly larger Pell grants and Stafford loans than U.S. citizens; (5) about 82 percent of immigrant Pell grant recipients lived in 7 states; (6) 61 percent of immigrant recipients attended public colleges, 19 percent attended private colleges, and 21 percent attended proprietary schools; and (7) 100 schools accounted for 50 percent of all immigrant Pell grant recipients and 91 of these schools were located in the 7 states with the highest concentration of immigrant students.