Reply #16: You're correct, EFerrari. In my haste to post I did not give the correct

[bertman]

explanation of how the Pell Grants are used --actually, abused. At the college this person used as an example, athletes are given scholarships for their sport, as is the case in general. One of the conditions of the scholarship being maintained is that the athletes adhere to certain rules and requirements relating to academics, personal behavior, following team rules, etc. Athletes who do not meet the academic requirements (pretty rare because there are enough professors who willingly give them passing grades just to keep them in school), or who violate school or team rules of behavior are penalized by having a percentage of their scholarship funds revoked. Of course, this affects how these "student-athletes" can afford to pay rent, buy clothes, party, etc. because many of them are living on the scholarship money. So, the athletes get the Pell grants to fill in as a supplemental stipend when their athletic scholarship money is reduced due to disciplinary reasons.

The bottom line is that the Pell grants are not being used for getting an education, but for keeping an athlete in school so he can boost the school's athletic program's status.