*This report was replaced in its entirety by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia on October 3, 2024.

This report is mandated by the Virginia Legislature’s 2024 Act of Assembly, Chapter 2, Item 130 I. The item requires a yearly report on the Pell Initiative for Virginia (PIV) each October 1 during the duration of the program. A comprehensive bullet-list of the PIV description follows this portion of the report. PIV is a natural experiment to alter both institutional and student behavior, not a controlled experiment, to increase Pell-eligible student enrollment. The enabling legislation requires the report to contain data on recruitment, retention and graduation of Pell-eligible students. This data represents activity in the first three of the five stages of the higher education student life cycle: recruitment, enrollment, retention, attainment and alumni.

The data and observations in this report are incomplete because not all institutions conduct their official enrollment census early enough in September to permit the data to be adequately compiled, analyzed and published by an October 1 deadline. However, this report does include the actual census data from institutions with earlier census dates and estimated data, when available and reported, from those with later census dates. The analysis and observations are tentative. Additionally, there has not been a treatment cycle in sufficient length to report and analyze attainment information. A second edition of this report will be published in November/December 2024 with final data and a complete set of observations including a discussion on attainment.

This first year of PIV implementation comes at a turbulent time in the world of higher education and Pell Grants. Pell Grant eligibility is determined by the U. S. Department of Education (USDOE)-developed form called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as completed by new and continuing college students. USDOE contractors compute student Pell eligibility based on a series of family situational and financial conditions. Pell Grant eligibility is reserved for generally low-income, often first-generation, rural and underrepresented students. This past year, the news reports have been replete with the coverage of FAFSA delays, miscalculations and missteps due to a long overdue massive overhaul of the FAFSA. This flawed implementation of the restructured FAFSA has made it difficult to draw solid observations on the impact of PIV. PIV is funding a variety of activities to increase the presence and success of Pell-eligible students in this first year of implementation. Section IV of this report contains a brief summary of each institution’s PIV activities.

The data SCHEV has received from the PIV institutions demonstrates a diminished FAFSA completion rate following national trends. Tentatively, it appears, proportionally, more students are Pell eligible under the new FAFSA at most PIV institutions. While SCHEV eagerly anticipates conclusive data observations, this report discusses the challenges of first-year implementation. The data appears mixed by institution. Most institutions seem to show modest gains in Pell-eligible enrollments for first-year students. There was more time for institutions to initiate recruitment and enrollment PIV activities than retention and graduation activities. Tentative observations of first-year activities are included, although it is difficult to determine solid observations at this stage of implementation. It is important to remember, especially in this, the first year of implementation, PIV is a longitudinal natural experiment where we can draw correlations, not causation, as the initiative operates across a minimum of four-years duration. For this cohort of students entering in the Fall, 2024, six-year graduation rates will not be available until the second half of 2030.