A new study says Florida students who use federal Pell grants to pay for college are graduating at about the same rate as their peers.
The Hechinger Report gathered data on students across the country getting these grants and how many of them graduated within six years.
Eight Florida schools provided information. Five saw Pell grant students graduate within one percent of the student body not receiving the grant.
Pell grants are money the federal government gives to low-income college students to pay for school. And unlike loans, they don't have to be repaid.
Pell Grant students at St. Leo University just north of Tampa had the greatest success . Eighty-six percent of them graduated in six years compared to 46 percent of the total student body.
The University of Florida saw its grant recipients graduate six percentage points lower than other students at the Gainesville school.
But Florida's findings tend to buck the national trends.
The study concluded that the success of Pell grant recipients depended most on the percentage of fellow students receiving the same grant.
