How Much Federal Pell Grant Money Can I Get?

The FAFSA Simplification Act changed the process for determining the amount of a student’s Scheduled Pell Grant award. Each student’s Scheduled Award is one of the following:

• A Maximum Pell Grant Award (Max Pell)

• Student Aid Index (SAI)-calculated Pell Grant, determined by subtracting the student’s SAI from the annual published maximum Pell Grant amount

• A Minimum Pell Grant Award (Min Pell)

Maximum and Minimum Pell Grant eligibility are determined based on tax filing requirements, family size and composition (i.e., single parent or non-single parent), Federal poverty guidelines, and state of residence. If a student qualifies for a Maximum Pell Grant, the Student Aid Index (SAI) is not used to determine the amount of that grant. An SAI-calculated Pell Grant is determined by subtracting the student’s calculated SAI from the annual published maximum Pell Grant amount, then rounding to the nearest $5. If the SAI-calculated Pell Grant is less than the published minimum Pell Grant amount, the student is ineligible for an SAI-calculated Pell Grant. However, the student may still be eligible for Min Pell if they meet the minimum Pell Grant eligibility requirements. For additional information, visit the Federal Student Aid Handbook.   

Eligibility

• demonstrated financial need
• be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen
• hold a high school diploma or GED certificate
• be enrolled in a minimum of 1 credit in an eligible program consisting of at least 16 hours
• not have a bachelor's degree
• maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress

Year-Round Federal Pell Grants

If you are eligible, you may receive a full Federal Pell Grant for summer even if you received a full Federal Pell Grant during the fall and spring semesters. Year-round Federal Pell allows you to receive up to 150 percent of a regular grant award over the course of the academic year. With careful planning, this allows you to continue taking classes in the summer and finish your degree faster than you would otherwise.

The provisions of the law state that any Federal Pell Grant received will be included in determining your Federal Pell Grant duration of eligibility and Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU). To be eligible for additional Federal Pell Grant funds, you must:

• be otherwise eligible to receive Federal Pell Grant funds for the payment period
• be maintaining satisfactory academic progress

Federal Pell Grants for Dependents of Veterans

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 grants you an automatic zero EFC for the Federal Pell Grant Program only if you are a Federal Pell Grant-eligible student whose parent or guardian was a member of the Armed Forces and died in Iraq or Afghanistan after September 11, 2001.

To be eligible, you must have been twenty-four years of age or younger or enrolled at least part-time at an institution at the time of your parent's death. The FAFSA will not ask you about your eligibility for this additional benefit, so you will need to notify the Financial Aid Office concerning your eligibility.

Lifetime Federal Pell Grant Eligibility

The amount of Federal Pell Grant funds you may receive over your lifetime is limited by a federal law to be the equivalent of six years of Federal Pell Grant funding. Since the maximum amount of Federal Pell Grant funding you can receive each year is equal to 100%, the six-year equivalent is 600%.

The maximum of Federal Pell Grant funding you can receive is calculated for an award year.  An award year is a period from July 1 of one calendar year to June 30 of the next calendar year. Your scheduled award represents 100% of your Federal Pell Grant eligibility for that award year if you are enrolled full-time.

To determine how much of the maximum six years (600%) of Federal Pell Grant you have used each year, the U.S. Department of Education compares the actual amount you received for the award year with your scheduled award amount for that award year. Of course, if you receive the full amount of your scheduled award, you will have used 100%. It is possible that you might not receive your entire scheduled award for an award year. There are a number of reasons for this, the most common of which are that you are not enrolled for the full year or that you are not enrolled full-time, or both.

If you did not receive the full amount of your scheduled award, we calculate the percentage of the scheduled award that you did receive. For example, if your scheduled award for an award year is $5,000, but because you were enrolled for only one semester you received only $2,500, you would have received 50% of the scheduled award for that award year. Or if you received only $3,750 for the award year because you were enrolled three-quarter-time and not full-time, you would have received 75% for that year.

Lifetime Eligibility Used

The U.S. Department of Education keeps track of your lifetime eligibility used by adding together the percentages of your Federal Pell Grant scheduled awards that you received for each award year. Since the maximum amount of Federal Pell Grant funding you can receive each year is equal to 100%, the six-year-equivalent is 600%. If your lifetime eligibility used equals or exceeds 600%, you may no longer receive Federal Pell Grant funding. Similarly, if your lifetime eligibility used is greater than 500% but less than 600%, while you will be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant for the next award year, you will not be able to receive a full scheduled award.

You can review your Federal Pell Grant eligibility used on your Central Piedmont MyCollege account (student login required) or you can log in to National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS^®) using your FSA ID and view your lifetime eligibility used. The lifetime eligibility used will be found on the Financial Aid Review page.