Pell Grant Basics
PASFAA Annual Conference
Harrisburg, PA
October 2012
1
Pell Grant Definitions
•
Scheduled Award
•
Maximum Pell Grant a student with a given EFC
and COA may receive if enrolled full-time for a
full academic year
Pell Grant Definitions
•
Annual Award
•
For term-based, credit hour programs, based on
the student’s true enrollment status (full, ¾, ½ or
less than ½)
– Award taken from the corresponding Annual Award
chart
– If the student is full-time, Scheduled Award = Annual
Award
• For
all clock-hour and nonterm credit hour
programs, the award is always taken from the
full-time Scheduled Award chart
Initial Calculation of a Pell Grant
•
First calculation of a student’s Pell Grant award,
based on a current, documented enrollment status
•
•
Earliest date for calculation is date of receipt of an
ED- product EFC
•
•
May be projected
SAR or ISIR
If no date is documented, date of initial calculation
is the later of
• Processed date of initial ISIR and the student’s
enrollment status as of that date, or
• Date student enrolls
Required Recalculations
•
Must have procedures in place to know
whether a student has begun all classes
• Must recalculate if
Student’s EFC changes due to verification,
corrections, updating or PJ
• Student’s enrollment status and or COA
changes from one term to another
• Student never begins attendance in one or more
classes
•
•
To reflect true enrollment status
Transfer Student Pell Calculation
•
Must have current info. from NSLDS or
COD for payments received YTD
• Calculation based on % of Scheduled
Award used at the first school(s)
•%
already used is subtracted from 100%
• Remaining % of Scheduled Award based on
COA and EFC at your school is maximum a
student may receive
Percentage Used Calculation
Amount
disbursed at
prior school
Total
Scheduled
Award at
prior school
Percent of
Scheduled Award
Used
Concurrent Enrollment
•
•
Student may not receive a Pell Grant at two or
more schools concurrently
When COD receives actual disbursement
records with enrollment dates that are within
30 days of one another:
•
COD notifies schools of possibility of concurrent
enrollment
•
Warning Edit code 069 on disbursement record
MRR is sent to all involved schools if edit s not
resolved in 30 days of receipt
• Not the same as a Potential Overaward Process
(POP)
•
Potential Overaward Process
(POP)
•
Exists when COD receives actual
disbursement records that exceed 100%
of Scheduled Award during an award year
• COD notifies school
•
•
Including Warning Edit 068 on disbursement
records
If POP not resolved within 30 days of
notification, COD generates negative
disbursements for all schools involved
Origination Record
•
Electronic record sent to COD to report Pell
awards made by schools to ED/FSA
• Contains the required data to report
amount of money a student is eligible to
receive for a period of time
• Designated by program (DL or Pell Grant),
program and award year
Disbursement Record
•
•
•
Electronic file sent COD to report Pell
disbursements made by schools to ED/FSA
Contains the required data to report amount of
money a student actually received, will
receive and for what payment period
Designated by program (e.g., Direct Loan or
Pell Grant), by institution and by award year
Lifetime Limits for Pell Eligibility
•
Limits Pell eligibility to 12 semesters or its
equivalent
•
•
Equivalent is 6 Scheduled Awards (%600)
Students enrolled less than full-time assessed
at the fractional enrollment status
• COD tracks student %used
Formula 1 Summary
•
•
•
•
Standard term, credit hour programs
30 weeks of instructional time
Full-time status is at least 12 credit hours
Academic calendar includes 2
semesters/trimesters or 3 quarters
• No overlapping terms
Process – Pell,Term Based
13
Step 1: Determine Enrollment
Status
Full-time
3/4 time
1/2 time
< 1/2 time
Process – Pell,Term Based
14
at least 12 credits
at least 9 credits
at least 6 credits
fewer than 6 credits
Step 2: Calculate Pell Grant
COA
• General rule
– Use full-time, full-year costs
• Exception to general rule
– When student is attending less than 1/2 time, use
full-time, full-year costs for each allowable
component
• Some components not allowed for less than 1/2 time
enrollment
– No miscellaneous and personal expenses
– Limited allowance for room and board
Process – Pell,Term Based
15
Step 3: Determine Annual
Award
• Use student’s cost of attendance and EFC to
find annual award on Payment Schedules
Process – Pell,Term Based
16
Step 4: Determine Payment
Periods
• Standard term programs use the term as the
payment period
– Semesters, trimesters, quarters
Process – Pell,Term Based
17
Step 5: Payment Per Payment
Period
Annual Award
# of payment periods in
academic year
Process – Pell,Term Based
18
Crossover Periods and Pell
• A payment period that overlaps two award
years
• School must assign the payment period to one
award year
– Must have a valid EFC for that award year
19
Formula 3 Highlights
• Enrollment status is different for nonstandard
terms.
• Cost of attendance proration may apply.
• Pell payment per payment period is
determined using number of weeks in the
nonstandard term.
Process – Pell,Term Based
20
Five Calculation Steps
1. Determine enrollment status
2. Calculate Pell COA
3. Determine annual award
4. Determine payment periods
5. Calculate payment for each
payment period
Process – Pell,Term Based
21
Step 1: Determine Enrollment
Status
If a school’s academic calendar contains nonstandard
terms, full-time enrollment status for each term must
be determined using a regulatory formula:
Credit hours
in the academic year
Process – Pell,Term Based
22
X
weeks of instructional time in
nonstandard term
weeks of instructional time in program’s
definition of academic year
Step 2: Calculate Pell Grant
COA
Prorating Cost of Attendance
When cost is for a period longer or shorter than
the statutory academic year, prorate the cost
down or up to reflect one academic year’s
cost.
Process – Pell,Term Based
23
COA Proration
Multiply COA by lesser of these two fractions:
hours in academic year definition
hours for which costs apply
weeks in academic year definition
weeks for which costs apply
Process – Pell,Term Based
24
COA Proration
Take the lesser of the two fractions:
24
21
OR
32
24
$17,100 X 24 / 21 = $19,543
Process – Pell,Term Based
25
Step 3: Determine Annual
Award
• Use the student’s cost of attendance and EFC
to find annual award on Payment Schedules
Process – Pell, Term Based
26
Step 4: Determine Payment
Periods
• Nonstandard term programs use the term as
the payment period
Process – Pell,Term Based
27
Step 5: Payment Per Payment
Period
weeks of instructional
time in payment period
annual award
×
Process – Pell, Term Based
28
weeks of instructional
time in program’s
definition of an
academic year
Final Step: COD
• Send Origination records electronically to COD
• Send an Actual Disbursement records
electronically to COD
– No funds in G5 for until COD accepts the records
– Disbursement date must reflect actual date of
disbursement
• Resolve all rejects!! (see COD Technical
Reference, Volume II, Section 4: Edits)
Process – Pell, Term Based
29
Calculating Pell Grant Awards
Non-term Credit Hour and
All Clock-Hour Programs
30
Five Calculation Steps
1. Determine enrollment status
2. Calculate Pell COA
3. Determine annual award
4. Determine payment periods
5. Calculate payment for
each payment period
Process – Pell, Non-Term
31
Step 1: Determine Enrollment
Status
• Clock hour programs
–for Pell calculation purposes, students
in clock hour programs are always
considered to be full-time
–34 CFR 668.2 defines full-time as at
least 24 clock hours per week
Process – Pell, Non-Term
32
Step 2: Calculate Pell COA
Prorating COA
If program is longer than or shorter than
statutory academic year, prorate down or up
to reflect one academic year.
Process – Pell, Non-Term
33
Step 2: Prorating COA
Take the lesser of the two fractions:
900
1400
OR
26
40
$20,000 x ____ ÷ ____= $______
Process – Pell, Non-Term
34
Step 3: Determine Annual
Award
• Use the cost of attendance and EFC to find
annual award on Payment Schedule
Process – Pell, Non-Term
35
Step 4: Determine Payment
Periods
• Program less than an academic year in length
• Divide into two equal payment periods using ½ the hours
and weeks
• Program longer than an academic year with remainder
less than or equal to ½ an acad. Yr.
• Divide 1st academic year into two equal payment periods
• Use remaining portion as a single payment period
• Program longer than an academic year but less than
two academic years – remaining portion greater than ½
an academic year
• Divide 1st academic year into two equal payment periods
• Divide remaining portion into two equal payment periods
•
36
Process – Pell, Non-Term
Step 5: Payment Per Payment
Period
Scheduled Award times the lesser of:
credit or clock hours in the payment period
credit or clock hours in program’s
academic year
OR
weeks of instructional time in the
payment period
weeks of instructional time in
program’s academic year
Process – Pell, Non-Term
37
Final Step: COD
• Send origination records electronically to COD
• Send actual disbursement records
electronically to COD
– No funds in G5 until COD accepts the records
– Disbursement date must reflect actual date of
disbursement
• Resolve all rejects!! (see COD Technical
Reference, Volume II, Section 4: Edits)
Process – Pell, Non-Term
38
Adjustments and Recalculations
39
Reasons for Adjustments and
Recalculations
• Changes in student information
– Expected family contribution (EFC)
• Corrections
• Updates
• Professional Judgment
– Enrollment status
– Cost of attendance
• All changes must be submitted to COD
Process – Adjustments & Recalculations
40
EFC Change Adjustments
• For Pell Grants & IASG, if EFC changes any time during the
award year, school must recalculate the amount of Pell grant
award for entire award year (34 CFR 690.80)
• Adjust for changes due to
– Clerical error
– Mathematical error
– Correction from Verification
• If possible, adjust overpayment or underpayment within same
award year
• If not possible,
– Adjustment made in next year or
– Student repays excess grant
Process – Adjustments & Recalculations
41
EFC Change Adjustments
For Campus-Based Aid, Direct Loans, and TEACH
Grants
• If adjustments change EFC, must submit
corrections to CPS for reprocessing
• Repackaging may be necessary
• If adjustments do not change EFC, may award
based on original data
Process – Adjustments & Recalculations
42
Enrollment Status Adjustments
• For term-based, credit-hour programs
• Pell Grants, IASG, TEACH Grants:
– Changes between payment periods
• School must recalculate
– Changes within payment period
• School must recalculate if student does not attend at least
one class in all courses used to determine enrollment status
• Recalculations not required for changes in enrollment status
after student has begun attendance in all classes
• School may establish recalculation policy
Process – Adjustments & Recalculations
43
Enrollment Status Considerations
• School must have
– Procedure in place to know that a student has
begun attendance in each class
• If school cannot document attendance, student is
considered not to have begun attendance
– Policy on recalculation dates
– Policy on attendance in compressed coursework
(i.e. modules, mini-terms, intersessions, etc)
Process – Adjustments & Recalculations
44
COA Adjustments
• Pell Grants, IASG, TEACH Grants:
– Schools are not required to recalculate for
changes during the award year
– If a school recalculates for change in enrollment
status, must take into account any changes in COA
Process – Adjustments & Recalculations
45
Questions?
Greg Martin
gregory.martin@ed.gov
215-656-6452
Comments about this presentation or my performance
Should be directed to Jo Ann Borel
Joann.borel@ed.gov
202-5954385