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Lowey Attends Meeting In Valhalla To Advocate For Year-Round Pell Grants

VALHALLA, N.Y. – U.S. Rep. Nita M. Lowey, D-Westchester/Rockland, the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, will be joined by students and administrators at Westchester Community College in Valhalla to call on Congress to expand the federal Pell Grant program to cover the summer semester.

Rep. Nita M. Lowey will call on Congress to expand the federal Pell Grant program to cover the summer semester.

Rep. Nita M. Lowey will call on Congress to expand the federal Pell Grant program to cover the summer semester.

Photo Credit: Contributed

The event will take place Monday at noon in the Hartford Hall boardroom at WCC.

Belinda S. Miles, WCC president, will also attend. The president’s budget, to be released on Tuesday, Feb. 9, includes a Pell summer semester expansion proposal. 

Currently, low-income, full-time college students are eligible for two Pell Grants per year to help finance their education. Funding is exhausted after two semesters, and students must wait until the next academic year to continue their studies. 

Expanding Pell to cover summer semesters would allow students to obtain their degree more quickly, resulting in fewer costs and, likely, less accumulation of debt. 

During the 2014-15 school year, 20,030 students who attended public and private colleges in New York’s 17th Congressional District, which includes parts of Westchester County and all of Rockland County, received Pell Grants worth just over $79.1 million.

Westchester Community College is at 75 Grasslands Road, Valhalla.

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