The Pell grant program is the largest federal need-based grant program available to postsecondary education students. This report provides a description of Pell Grant recipients who were first-time beginning postsecondary students in the 1995-1996 academic year. Using data from the 1996 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study First Followup, the report examines the academic and enrollment characteristics of beginning students who received a Pell Grant and their rates of persistence 3 years after starting postsecondary education. These students are compared with beginning students who did not receive a Pell Grant, but high-income students were excluded from this comparison because most Pell Grant recipients are low-income students. In the 1995-1996 school year, 29% of all beginning students and 32% of full-time beginning students received a Pell Grant. When only low- and middle-income students were considered, Pell Grant recipients differed from nonrecipients in their level of high school academic preparation and the number of factors that put them at risk of not achieving their academic objectives. Before any background variables were taken into account, among all full-time low- and middle-income beginning students enrolled at all postsecondary institutions, Pell Grant recipients were less likely to remain enrolled than their nonrecipient counterparts, but the findings from multivariate analysis showed that no differences in persistence could be detected after controlling for the covariation of related variables. One appendix contains a glossary, and the other contains technical notes and a description of the survey methodology. (Contains 22 tables, 5 figures, and 12 references.).