We need to be hospitable to our visitors and the people who come here to work or go to school, but we don’t need to do it at the expense of our own citizens.

On Wednesday, Breitbart posted an article about a new piece of legislation that would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965.

The article reports:

Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) has introduced a new piece of legislation that would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require that recipients of Pell Grants be U.S. citizens, a move the Republican said would “put American students first.”

Unveiled on Wednesday morning, the “Pell for Americans Act” simply states that the federally funded aid grant should only go to American undergraduates — not foreigners. 

Despite efforts to restrict eligibility for non-citizens in the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill, several classes, including refugees, asylees, immigration parolees, Cuban-Haitian entrants, and “conditional permanent residents,” remain eligible. 

Just this February, the Hill reported that the Pell program “is in financial difficulties with a projected shortfall of billions of dollars that could lead to trouble for students as soon as 2028.”

By the end of this fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects the Pell Grant program will be $5 billion in debt. Over the next ten years, that number jumps to between $104 billion and $132 billion if nothing is done about the issue.  

Students are not required to pay back Pell Grants. It seems to me that requiring students to pay back at least part of those grants after graduation might solve some of the budget program. Even if a student receives a grant because they cannot afford to pay for their education, they should make enough money after graduation to pay back at least part of the grant to keep the program going.