President Barack Obama is a big fan of Pell Grants, a federal program that helps low-income students pay for college.

He kicked off his Pell Grant efforts by signing the stimulus bill, which sent an additional $15.6 billion to the grants and another $200 million to work-study programs. Taken together with other previously approved funding, the maximum Pell Grant per student would be $5,350 for the school year starting in 2009.

Obama's budget outline, released Feb. 26, 2009, proposes enough money to boost the maximum Pell Grant to $5,550 for 2010. In addition, his budget would require Pell Grants to receive automatic funding each year and index the grants to inflation. That indexing was a key part of his promise.

Obama still must get his budget through Congress. His proposal to expand Pell Grants gets this promise to In the Works.