时差N小时:佩尔资助计划 Pell Grant

The term “Pell Grant” becomes very familiar tomillions of college-age students and their familiesevery year. Pell Grants assist undergraduate low-and middle-income college students with tuitionassistance grants that do not have to be repaid. Inaddition, the program encourages low-incomeadults to return to school and in doing so, promoteslife-long learning.

"佩尔资助计划"这个术语每年都被数百万大学生和他们的家人所熟知。“佩尔资助计划”无偿为低收入或中等收入家庭出身的在校大学生提供学费补助。此外这项计划还鼓励低收入成年人重返校园，此举促进了终身学习的观念。

The primary sponsor of the Pell Grant program was Rhode Island Senator, Claiborne Pell, whoserved in the Senate for 36 years. Himself — the product of the nation's finest private schools—Senator Pell took a particular interest the problems that many low-and middle-incomestudents were having in affording college.

“佩尔资助计划”的主要赞助人是罗德岛的参议员克莱本·佩尔，他在参议院就职了36年。佩尔本人创办了美国最好的私立学校，并特别关注那些上学困难的低收入和中等收入家庭的大学生。

As the Baby-Boom Generation entered college in the late 1960s, the college populationswelled—straining college-based financial aid. Eliminating these barriers became an importantpriority for Claiborne Pell. His concerns were addressed by amendments in 1972 to the HigherEducation Act. Originially known as Basic Educational Opportunity Grants, Congress renamedthem Pell Grants in 1980, to honor the efforts of Claiborne Pell in creating them. Assisting onein every four undergraduates, the Pell Grant Program is now the federal government's largestgrant program.

20世纪60年代晚期，婴儿潮一代进入大学校园，大学生人数激增，以学院为主的经济援助一下子紧张起来。克莱本·佩尔把消除这个矛盾当作最重要的、该优先考虑的事项。在1972年的《高等教育法案》的修正案中，他的担忧得到解决。这项计划的前身是“基本教育机会助学金”，在1980年国会将其改名为“佩尔资助计划”，以纪念克莱本·佩尔所作出的贡献。“佩尔资助计划”资助了四分之一的大学生，现成为美国联邦政府最大的资助计划。