This report describes characteristics of college graduates who received Pell Grants and compares them to graduates who were not Pell Grant recipients. For both groups of graduates, data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:2000/01) were analyzed to determine the time it took them to complete a bachelor's degree as well as the percentage who enrolled in graduate school within one year of college graduation. Key findings include the following:
- About 36 percent of 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients received at least one Pell Grant while in college.
- Higher percentages of Pell Grant recipients had at least one of several undergraduate risk characteristics (e.g., delaying postsecondary enrollment or failing to graduate from high school) than did nonrecipients.
- Parents' education was the only factor consistently related to both time-to-degree and graduate school enrollment for Pell Grant recipients. Those whose parents did not attend college took longer to attain a bachelor's degree and enrolled in graduate school at lower rates than recipients whose parents had a least a bachelor's degree.
- Although Pell Grant recipients had a longer median time-to-degree than nonrecipients, when controlling simultaneously for parents' education, undergraduate risk characteristics, and transfer history, recipients had a shorter time-to-degree than nonrecipients.
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