This page provides historical figures relating to the Pell Grant. Inflation figures are based on the June Consumer Price Index of each year (June 1973 constant dollars).

In 2003-04, 97.7% of Pell Grant recipients had a family AGI of less than $50,000.

	Maximum Pell Grant					Maximum Pell Grant Adjusted for Inflation
Award Year	Appropriated	Authorized	Average Pell Grant	Number of Recipients	Total Funding	CPI-U	Tuition Inflation
1973-74	$452	$1,400	$270	176,000	$47,520,000	$452	$452
1974-75	$1,050	$1,400	$628	567,000	$356,076,000	$947	$991
1975-76	$1,400	$1,400	$761	1,217,000	$926,137,000	$1,154	$1,233
1976-77	$1,400	$1,400	$759	1,944,000	$1,475,496,000	$1,089	$1,128
1977-78	$1,400	$1,800	$758	2,011,000	$1,524,338,000	$1,019	$1,044
1978-79	$1,600	$1,800	$814	1,893,000	$1,540,902,000	$1,085	$1,111
1979-80	$1,800	$1,800	$929	2,537,875	$2,357,685,875	$1,100	$1,146
1980-81	$1,750	$1,800	$882	2,707,932	$2,388,396,024	$935	$995
1981-82	$1,670	$1,900	$849	2,709,076	$2,300,005,524	$815	$833
1982-83	$1,800	$2,100	$959	2,522,746	$2,419,313,414	$820	$785
1983-84	$1,800	$2,300	$1,014	2,758,906	$2,797,530,684	$800	$715
1984-85	$1,900	$2,500	$1,111	2,747,100	$3,052,028,100	$810	$699
1985-86	$2,100	$2,600	$1,279	2,813,489	$3,598,452,431	$863	$714
1986-87	$2,100	$2,600	$1,301	2,659,507	$3,460,018,607	$848	$661
1987-88	$2,100	$2,300	$1,303	2,881,547	$3,754,655,741	$818	$616
1988-89	$2,200	$2,500	$1,399	3,198,286	$4,474,402,114	$824	$598
1989-90	$2,300	$2,700	$1,438	3,322,151	$4,777,253,138	$819	$576
1990-91	$2,300	$2,900	$1,449	3,404,810	$4,933,569,690	$783	$534
1991-92	$2,400	$3,100	$1,530	3,786,230	$5,792,931,900	$780	$518
1992-93	$2,400	$3,100	$1,543	4,002,045	$6,175,155,435	$757	$489
1993-94	$2,300	$3,700	$1,506	3,755,675	$5,656,046,550	$704	$442
1994-95	$2,300	$3,900	$1,502	3,674,967	$5,519,800,434	$687	$420
1995-96	$2,340	$4,100	$1,515	3,611,821	$5,471,908,815	$678	$405
1996-97	$2,470	$4,300	$1,577	3,665,654	$5,780,736,358	$697	$407
1997-98	$2,700	$4,500	$1,696	3,732,807	$6,330,840,672	$744	$423
1998-99	$3,000	$4,500	$1,876	3,855,180	$7,232,317,680	$813	$447
1999-00	$3,125	$4,500	$1,933	3,808,269	$7,361,383,977	$831	$445
2000-01	$3,300	$4,800	$2,070	3,880,448	$8,032,527,360	$846	$447
2001-02	$3,750	$5,100	$2,376	4,341,000	$10,314,000,000	$931	$481
2002-03	$4,000	$5,400	$2,338	4,840,000	$11,314,000,000	$983	$485
2003-04	$4,050	$5,800	$2,467	5,141,000	$12,680,295,000	$974	$464
2004-05	$4,050	none specified	$2,441	5,344,000	$13,042,280,000	$944	$437
2005-06	$4,050	none specified	$2,486	5,468,000	$13,591,660,000	$920	$413
2006-07	$4,050	none specified	$2,494	5,165,000	$12,880,787,000
2007-08	$4,310	none specified	$2,620	5,339,000	$13,660,711,000
2008-09	$4,731	none specified	$2,945	5,578,000	$16,256,000,000

The following chart shows the inflation-adjusted maximum Pell Grant, with the blue line representing the CPI-U adjustments and the purple line the tuition inflation adjustments.