Limiting this to students who are "college ready" would defeat the purpose of a Pell Grant and leave millions of American students unable to pay for their university education. To obtain a Pell Grant, students must have a high school diploma and will then be eligible. Requiring students to take rigorous courses and score high on the SAT, ACT, or other standardized test should only be considered when considering finishing schools, not when deciding whether a student is eligible or ineligible to receive financial aid. “The data suggests that eliminating the Pell Grant for the least prepared students will not force many of them to forgo college. Instead, they will enroll and, without financial assistance, they will go into debt, even more than they already were” (Goldrick, 3). This will have a serious impact on the economy, as students who did not perform well academically in high school will have a harder time paying off the massive debt while in school..