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Volume 7
The Federal Pell Grant Program
Introduction
This volume of the Federal Student Aid Handbook provides information to assist schools in determining student eligibility
for and calculating the amount of Federal Pell Grants.
Significant Changes for 2025326
Throughout Volume 7, all dates, award years, and dollar values have been updated to reflect the 2025326 processing
year. Also, where appropriate, links and publications associated with FSA9s Partner Connect and Knowledge Center have
been updated.
Note: Statutory citations are to the
Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended.
Chapter 1
We added a reminder that schools must work with any student who indicates on the FAFSA form that their parent or
guardian was killed in the line of duty to document and, if determined eligible, certify eligibility for a maximum Pell Grant
under the Special Rule.
Chapter 2
In the <Calculated Pell= section, we added set of steps for determining the calculated Scheduled Award to clarify when a
school should and should not round to the nearest $5. We updated the examples to demonstrate these steps.
Chapter 3
We added a section titled <Less Than Half Time Pell Grant Cost of Attendance= to demonstrate this concept and provide
an example of how a Pell Grant may be limited by a less-than-half-time COA.
Chapter 4
We added a fourth example titled <Less-than-half-time Enrollment and Pell Grant COA= to the <Pell Formula 1= section,
which incorporates the concept of a less-than-half-time Pell Grant COA with a less-than-half-time enrollment intensity
proration.
There were no substantive changes in Chapters 5-8 or the Appendix.
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Chapter 1
Student Eligibility for Pell Grants
General Eligibility Requirements for Federal Pell Grants
In general, a student must be enrolled in an undergraduate course of study at a non-foreign institution to receive a Pell
Grant. For the Pell Grant program, a student is an undergraduate only if the student has not earned or completed the
requirements for a bachelor9s or professional degree. A student who has earned a baccalaureate degree or a first
professional degree cannot receive a Pell Grant. However, students enrolled in an eligible post baccalaureate program as
described below are still considered undergraduates for purposes of Pell Grant eligibility.
A student who completes a master9s program has earned a degree beyond the baccalaureate level, making the student
ineligible for a Pell Grant even if they do not have a bachelor9s degree and enroll in an undergraduate program. Most
professional degrees are also considered beyond the baccalaureate level; the same restrictions apply to students who
have earned professional degrees considered beyond the baccalaureate level.
A student who has received an associate degree4or any certificate or diploma below the baccalaureate level4and who
enrolls in another undergraduate program continues to be considered an undergraduate student until the student has
completed the curriculum requirements for a first bachelor9s degree.
A student with a baccalaureate or professional degree is ineligible even if the degree is from an unaccredited school or is
not accepted for admission or transfer credit by your school. Similarly, a student with a baccalaureate or professional
degree from a foreign school usually isn9t eligible for a Pell Grant. But because a foreign degree often won9t translate
neatly into the American classification, the school must judge whether it equates to a U.S. bachelor9s degree. If the
student provides written documentation that the foreign degree is not equivalent to a bachelor9s degree awarded in the
United States, you may determine that the student does not have a bachelor9s degree. Documents supporting such a
conclusion may include information about the type of school the student attended and total years of education leading to
the degree.
A student enrolled in a program that lasts longer than five years, typically first professional degree programs such as a
six-year pharmacy program, can be considered an undergraduate for only the first three or four years. Students enrolled
in dual-degree programs that confer a bachelor9s degree and either a graduate or first professional degree are
undergraduates for at least the first three years of the program. The school determines at what point after three years the
student ceases to be an undergraduate student. The student must be considered a graduate student after the fourth year
of such programs (see
Volume 1, Chapter 1 for further discussion).
Occasionally, a student will complete all the requirements for a bachelor9s degree but will continue taking undergraduate
courses without accepting the degree. Your school must decide whether and at what point the student completed the
baccalaureate course of study. If your school determines that the student did complete a bachelor9s program (regardless
of whether the student accepted the degree), then the student is no longer eligible to receive a Pell Grant.
Wrong Grade Level on the FAFSA Form
When an undergraduate student incorrectly reports on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form that
the student will be a graduate student or has a bachelor9s degree, the student must correct that information. Because the
application shows that the student isn9t an undergraduate, the Department9s records will show that the student is
ineligible for Pell. If the application isn9t corrected, the school won9t be able to pay the student a Pell Grant.
Definition of an Undergraduate Student
34 CFR 668.2
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Eligible Postbaccalaureate Program
A student who is enrolled at least half time in a postbaccalaureate teacher certification or licensure program is eligible to
receive a Pell Grant for the period necessary to complete the program if:
The program does not lead to a graduate degree;
The school offering the program does not also offer a bachelor9s degree in education;
The student is pursuing an initial teacher certification or licensing credential within a state; and
The program consists of the courses required by a state to receive a professional certification or licensing credential
necessary for employment as a teacher in an elementary or secondary school in that state.
Under this very limited provision, a postbaccalaureate program is defined as a program that generally requires a
student to have a bachelor9s degree before being admitted to the program. Accordingly, a program in which
undergraduate students are routinely allowed to enroll would not meet the definition of a postbaccalaureate program for
this purpose, nor would a program that is generally open to undergraduates but that also admits students with bachelor9s
degrees. For Title IV purposes, a school must treat a student who receives a Pell Grant under this provision as enrolled in
an undergraduate program. Such a student is eligible for Federal Work-Study and fifth-year undergraduate (not graduate
student) Direct Loan limits but would not be eligible for a Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG).
Eligible Postbaccalaureate Program and the FAFSA
Normally, students who indicate on the FAFSA that they have a bachelor9s degree won9t be listed in the Department9s
records as Pell-eligible students, and the school won9t be able to receive Pell funds for them. However, to allow students
who are eligible under the postbaccalaureate program provision to be paid, students who correctly report that they have a
bachelor9s degree but also indicate on the FAFSA form that they are in a teaching credential program will be listed as Pell-
eligible students. Of course, you must determine whether the student falls under the eligible postbaccalaureate provision.
Prohibition on Receiving Two Pell Grant Payments for Concurrent Enrollment
A student may not receive Pell Grant payments concurrently from more than one school. If a student is awarded Pell for
any period of concurrent enrollment, the student has the choice of which award to receive but is limited to a single award
from a single school.
For Pell purposes, the phrase <concurrently from more than one institution= means that the student must be attending
both schools at the same time for the concurrent Pell Grant prohibition to apply. A student who withdraws from one school
and enrolls at least one day later in another school is normally not considered to have been enrolled concurrently. If a
Pell-eligible student withdraws from one institution but meets one of the Return of
Title IV Funds (R2T4) withdrawal
exemptions and subsequently enrolls at a different institution during the same payment period, the new institution can
award Pell Grant funds for any remaining portion of the overlapping payment period. See Chapter 6 of this volume for
additional information on awarding remaining eligibility for a transfer student. The new institution should maintain
documentation in the student9s file supporting a Pell Grant disbursement at that institution following the student's
withdrawal from the prior school.
Eligible Postbaccalaureate Programs
34 CFR 690.6(c)
HEA Sec. 401(d)(4)(B)
Prohibition on Concurrent Enrollment
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Pell Eligibility for Incarcerated Students
Section 484(t) of the HEA established Pell Grant eligibility for confined or incarcerated students if they are enrolled in an
eligible Prison Education Program (PEP). A confined or incarcerated individual is eligible to receive a Pell Grant if that
individual enrolls in an eligible PEP. For additional information about PEPs, see
Volume 1, Chapter 1 and Volume 2,
Chapter 2 of the FSA Handbook.
Institutions that participated in the Second Chance Pell (SCP) experiment under the Experimental Sites Initiative (ESI)
were invited to apply to participate in a revised version of the experiment. The revised SCP program allows institutions
participating in the experiment as of July 1, 2023, to continue offering their current programs to confined or incarcerated
individuals for up to three award years while they work through the application and approval process for the PEP(s) they
wish to offer under the new provisions. See Electronic Announcement GENERAL-23-25 for additional information. The
revised SCP experiment will end on June 30, 2026; schools will not be permitted to disburse Pell Grant funds under the
experiment beyond the 2025-26 award year.
Cost of Attendance for Incarcerated Students
The cost of attendance for students who are incarcerated may include the following: tuition, fees, books, course materials,
supplies, equipment, and the cost of obtaining a license, certification, or a first professional credential. For more
information on the cost of attendance, see
Volume 3, Chapter 2 of the FSA Handbook.
Confined or incarcerated individuals may not receive Pell Grant funds for more than their cost of attendance and may not
receive a Title IV credit balance. To ensure that all allowable costs are included in the cost of the attendance, schools
must include books, course materials, equipment, and supplies as part of institutional charges and either provide those
materials directly to the individual or include the costs of books and supplies in the individual9s tuition and fees. If a credit
balance is created, the school must return the Pell Grant funds associated with the credit balance to the Department and
it will be credited to the student's remaining Pell eligibility.
Maximum Pell Grant Eligibility for Dependents of Certain Deceased Servicemembers and Public Safety Officers
Students who meet the eligibility requirements for Pell Grants under the Special Rule in HEA Section 401(c) will receive a
maximum Pell Grant award, regardless of their calculated SAI. To receive a Pell Grant based on eligibility under the
Special Rule, a student must be:
34 CFR 690.11
HEA Section 401(d)(3)
Pell Eligibility for Incarcerated Students
34 CFR 668, Subpart P 3 Requirements for prison education programs
34 CFR 690.62(b)(1) 3 Prohibition on issuance of credit balances for confined or incarcerated individuals
Dear Colleague Letter GEN-23-05 3 Eligibility of Confined or Incarcerated Individuals to Receive Pell Grants
Prison Education Programs 3 FSA Partners Knowledge Center Resources
Prison Education Programs 3 Questions and Answers
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The child of a parent or guardian who died in the line of duty while either (a) serving on active duty as a member of
the U.S. Armed Forces on or after September 11, 2001; or (b) actively serving as and performing the duties of a
public safety officer; and
Less than 33 years old as of the January 1 prior to the award year for which the applicant is applying (e.g., for the
2025326 award year, a student must be less than 33 years old as of January 1, 2025, to be eligible).
In this situation, eligible students will have a Scheduled Award equal to a maximum Pell Grant award, regardless of SAI.
Other aid for these students will be based on their calculated SAI.
Public Safety Officer Definition
A public safety officer generally includes the following:
Law enforcement officer
Firefighter
Member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employee
Emergency management or civil defense agency employee
Chaplain
Others defined in Section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10284)
Identification of Eligibility and Acceptable Documentation
The U.S. Department of Defense does not provide confirmation that a service member killed in the line of duty meets the
special eligibility criteria. Further, no comprehensive federal database exists to effectively and efficiently identify public
safety officers killed in the line of duty. Therefore, students will self-identify potential eligibility on the FAFSA form, and the
school will be required to confirm eligibility by collecting supporting documentation from the student. Once you document
and certify Special Rule eligibility for a maximum Pell Grant award, neither your school nor any other school is required to
redetermine that student's eligibility for subsequent award years if the student continues to meet all other Pell Grant
eligibility requirements and the age requirement for the Special Rule.
Acceptable documentation may include, but is not limited to, the following:
A copy of the servicemember9s DD Form 1300 (Report of Casualty) which documents death in the line of duty.
A copy of the servicemember9s DD Form 214 and death certificate, documenting that the date and cause of death
occurred during and as a result of active duty.
A copy of a Department of Veterans Affairs Death Narrative Document.
A determination letter acknowledging eligibility for certain federal benefits under the Public Safety Officers Benefit
(PSOB) program administered by the Department of Justice.
A written letter of attestation or determination made by a state or local government official with supervisory or other
relevant oversight authority of an individual who died in the line of duty while serving as a public safety officer.
Pell Grants Under the Special Rule
HEA Section 401(c)
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Documentation of the student qualifying for a state tuition or other state benefit accorded to the surviving children or
other family members of a public safety officer.
Other documentation the school determines to be from a credible source that describes or reports the circumstances
of the death and the eligible occupation of the parent or guardian.
Legacy IASG and CFH Eligibility
Students who were eligible for and received Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant (IASG) funds or received Pell Grant funds
based on IASG or Children of Fallen Heroes (CFH) eligibility criteria for the 2023-24 award year but are not eligible for Pell
Grant funds under the Special Rule beginning with the 2024325 award year are eligible to receive Pell Grant funds based
on prior IASG or CFH eligibility criteria. Students remain eligible if they received at least one disbursement of Pell Grant or
IASG funds based on their IASG or CFH eligibility during the 2023-24 award year and continue to meet the age
requirement for the Special Rule. Students who receive a maximum Pell Grant based on legacy IASG or CFH guidance
continue to be eligible if the student received at least one disbursement of funds based on the grandfathered eligibility in
each subsequent award year. If there is a break in disbursement of one award year, then the student must qualify under
the Special Rule in HEA Section 401(c).
Certification and Reporting
Schools report maximum Pell Grant eligibility based on either (1) Special Rule criteria eligibility or (2) legacy eligibility due
to prior IASG or CFH criteria to the Department via the FAFSA Partner Portal (FPP). Once reported, the FAFSA Processing
System (FPS) will generate a new ISIR transaction reflecting the student9s eligibility. This updated ISIR transaction will
allow you to originate and disburse a maximum Pell Grant for eligible students. Applicants who meet Special Rule
eligibility will be reported as simply eligible. There will be a separate value for students who meet the requirements for
legacy eligibility. See
Volume 4 of the 2025-26 FAFSA Specifications Guide for additional information.
Eligibility Determination FAFSA
Partner Portal
Field
Indicator Value
Eligible 3 Special Rule (died in the line of duty while serving on active duty as a
member of the U.S. Armed Forces on or after September 11, 2001)
IASG Indicator 1 3 Eligible for
IASG
Eligible 3 Legacy IASG IASG Indicator 2 3 Eligible,
grandfathered for
IASG
Eligible 3 Special Rule (died in the line of duty while actively serving as and
performing the duties of a public safety officer)
CFH Indicator 1 3 Eligible for CFH
Eligible 3 Legacy CFH CFH Indicator 2 3 Eligible,
grandfathered for
Note: You must work with any student who indicates on the FAFSA form that their parent or guardian was killed in
the line of duty to document and, if determined eligible, certify eligibility for a maximum Pell Grant under the
Special Rule. This includes students who may otherwise qualify for a Max Pell Grant based on SAI or other
eligibility criteria. Since eligibility under the Special Rule does not need to be redetermined annually, certifying a
student as eligible under the Special Rule allows the student to continue receiving a maximum Pell Grant award in
subsequent award years, regardless of financial information.
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CFH
Ineligible IASG or CFH
Indicator
3 3 Not eligible for
IASG/CFH
No Determination IASG or CFH
Indicator
Blank 3 No
Determination
While you do not need to redetermine a student9s eligibility in subsequent award years, you must recertify and report
eligibility annually in FPP.
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Chapter 2
Calculating Pell Grants
Pell Grant Scheduled Awards are based on information provided on the FAFSA form, the presence of a valid Student Aid
Index (SAI) on the student9s FAFSA Submission Summary or ISIR, the academic year structure (see Volume 3, Chapter 1),
and the Pell Grant cost of attendance (COA) for a full-time student for a full academic year (see Volume 3, Chapter 2). For
term-based programs, awards for part-time students are adjusted based on a student9s enrollment intensity.
Scheduled Award, Award Year, and Annual Award
The Scheduled Award is the maximum amount a student can receive during the award year if the student attends full
time for a full academic year. The award year begins on July 1 of one year and ends on June 30 of the next year. For
example, the 2025-26 award year begins July 1, 2025, and ends June 30, 2026. The student9s Scheduled Award is
established by the school using the student9s Pell Grant COA and the information received on the student9s ISIR, which will
include the student9s Pell Grant eligibility and SAI.
The annual award is the maximum amount a student would receive during a full academic year based on enrollment
intensity and COA. Note that for a full-time student, the annual award will be the same as the Scheduled Award. A part-
time student who is enrolled in a term-based program will have an annual award that is less than the Scheduled Award.
Published Maximum and Minimum Pell Grant Award Amounts
The maximum Pell Grant award amount is determined by the appropriation Act applicable to that award year. The
Department will announce the maximum Pell Grant award amount for the award year, as required, when the amount is
available. The minimum Pell Grant award amount will be 10% of the maximum Pell Grant award amount for the award
year. Both the maximum and minimum award amounts will be rounded to the nearest $5. You should refer to the
Knowledge Center for the most updated information.
Pell Grant Eligibility Criteria
A student may qualify for a Pell Grant under one of three sets of eligibility criteria:
Maximum Pell Grant eligibility (Max Pell)
Minimum Pell Grant eligibility (Min Pell)
Calculated Pell Grant eligibility, based on SAI
If FPS has determined that a student's ISIR transaction is eligible for a Pell Grant, the <Pell Grant Eligibility Flag= will be set
to <Y=. Schools will use additional information on the ISIR to determine whether students qualify for Max Pell, Min Pell, or a
Calculated Pell Grant. Actual Pell Grant award amounts are unique to individual students and are based upon and limited
by the student's enrollment intensity, SAI, COA, and Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU). For more on LEU, see Chapter 8 of this
volume.
Maximum Pell Grant Eligibility Criteria
This section describes eligibility criteria to qualify for a Max Pell Grant and the <Max Pell Indicator= value that you will see
on the student9s ISIR.
Dependent Student
Note:/Examples use fictional maximum ($7,500) and minimum ($750) Pell Grant award amounts for
demonstration purposes only. Award amounts in examples in this volume should not be used in packaging Pell
Grants for the 2025-26 award year.
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Max Pell
Indicator
Eligibility Criteria
1 The student9s parent(s) is not required to file a federal income tax return.
2 The student9s parent is a single parent and has an AGI greater than zero and less than or equal to 225% of
the poverty guideline for the applicant9s family size and state of residence.
3 The student9s parent is not a single parent and ha s an AGI greater than zero and less than or equal to 175%
of the poverty guideline for the applicant9s family size and state of residence.
Blank Ineligible for Max Pell
Independent Student
Max Pell
Indicator
Eligibility Criteria
1 The student (and spouse, if applicable) is not req uired to file a federal income tax return.
2 The student is a single parent and has an AGI grea ter than zero and less than or equal to 225% of the
poverty guideline for the applicant9s family size and state of residence.
3 The student is not a single parent and has an AGI greater than zero and less than or equal to 175% of the
poverty guideline for the applicant9s family size and state of residence.
Blank Ineligible for Max Pell
Poverty Guidelines
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) annually produces poverty guidelines by state of residence. Use the
U.S. Federal Poverty Guidelines Used to Determine Financial Eligibility for Certain Programs for the prior-prior tax year
(e.g., for the 2025326 award year, use the 2023 poverty guideline) by state of legal residence to determine a student9s
eligibility for Max or Min Pell.
State of Legal Residence
Dependent student state of legal residence is the reported state of residence of their parent(s), if reported. Otherwise, use
the student9s reported state of residence. For independent students, use the reported state of residence for the applicant.
Maximum Pell Grant Eligibility
HEA Sec. 401(b)(1)(A)
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For independent student applicants or parents of dependent student applicants who do not have a reported state of legal
residence or whose place of legal residence is outside the U.S., use the poverty estimates for the contiguous 48 states.
Required to File a Federal Income Tax Return
Use IRS Publication 501 for the applicable tax year to determine if the independent applicant or dependent student9s
parent(s) was required to file a federal tax return. If tax filing status is known, use the combination of reported marital
status, tax filing status, and age to determine if they were required to file.
Minimum Pell Grant Eligibility Criteria
This section describes eligibility criteria to qualify for a Min Pell Grant and the <Minimum Pell Indicator= value that you will
see on the student9s ISIR.
Dependent Student
Min Pell
Indicator
Eligibility Criteria
1 The student9s parent is a single parent and has an AGI less than or equal to 325% of the poverty guideline
for the applicant9s family size and state of residence.
2 The student9s parent is not a single parent and ha s an AGI less than or equal to 275% of the poverty
guideline for the applicant9s family size and state of residence.
Blank Ineligible for Min Pell
Independent Student
Min Pell
Indicator
Eligibility Criteria
3 The student is a single parent, and the AGI is les s than or equal to 400% of the poverty line.
4 The student is a parent and is not a single parent , and the AGI is less than or equal to 350% of the of the
poverty guideline for the applicant9s family size and state of residence.
5 The student is not a parent, and the student9s (an d spouse9s if applicable) AGI is less than or equal to 275%
of the of the poverty guideline for the applicant9s family size and state of residence.
Blank Ineligible for Min Pell
Minimum Pell Grant Eligibility
HEA Sec. 401(b)(1)(C)
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Calculated Pell Grant (Eligibility Based on SAI and COA)
If the <Pell Grant Eligibility Flag= on the ISIR is set to <Y=, but the <Max Pell Indicator= and <Minimum Pell Indictor= are
blank, the student may be eligible for a calculated Pell Grant.
Calculated Pell Grant Order of Operations
Use the following steps to determine the amount of a calculated Pell Grant:
If the student9s calculated Pell Grant is greater than the Min Pell amount/and/the student9s COA, the Scheduled award will
be the same value as the student9s COA (not rounded).
Step 1: Subtract the student9s calculated SAI from the award year9s published Max Pell amount.
Step 2: Compare the amount from Step 1 to the award year9s published Min Pell amount. If Max
Pell minus SAI g Min Pell, proceed to Step 3. If not, the student is not eligible for a
Calculated Pell Grant.
Step 3: Round the result from Step 1 to the nearest $5.
Step 4: Compare the rounded amount from Step 3 to the student9s Pell Grant COA. If the
rounded amount is less than the student9s Pell Grant COA, the student is eligible for a
Scheduled Pell Grant Award of that resulting amount. If the rounded amount is greater
than the student9s Pell Grant COA, the student is eligible for a Scheduled Pell Grant
Award equal to the student9s Pell Grant COA.
Volume 7, Chapter 2, Example 1: Eligible for Calculated Pell Grant
A student9s calculated SAI is 1,004 and the Pell COA is $10,000. For demonstration purposes, assume the
published Max Pell for the award year is $7,500. The published Min Pell for the award year is 10% of the Max Pell,
or $750. The school performs the steps in the Calculated Pell Grant process to determine the student9s Scheduled
Award.
Step 1: Max Pell ($7,500) - SAI (1,004) = $6,496
Step 2: Calculated Pell Grant ($6,496) > Min Pell ($750)
Step 3: Round Calculated Pell Grant ($6,496) to the nearest $5 = $6,495
Step 4: Rounded Calculated Pell Grant ($6,495) < Pell Grant COA ($10,000)
Since the calculated Scheduled Award is less than the Pell COA, the school determines that the student is eligible
for a Scheduled Award of $6,495.
Volume 7, Chapter 2, Example 2: Eligible for Calculated Pell Grant, Capped at COA
A student9s calculated SAI is 1,004 and the Pell COA is $6,493. For demonstration purposes, assume the published
Max Pell for the award year is $7,500. The published Min Pell for the award year is 10% of the Max Pell, or $750.
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If the student9s calculated Pell Grant is less than the published Min Pell amount for the award year, the student is not
eligible for a calculated Pell Grant. However, the student may still meet eligibility requirements for Min Pell based on AGI,
family size, state of residence, and poverty guidelines, described previously.
Determining the Award Year for Crossover Pell Awards
You must source Pell Grant funds from the award year to which the payment period is assigned. When awarding Pell
Grants for a crossover payment period, you may assign the payment period to the award year that best meets the needs
of your students and maximizes a student9s eligibility over the two award years in which the crossover payment period
occurs. For general information about payment periods, see Chapter 1 of Volume 3, and for more detail on crossover
payment periods, see the section on crossover payment periods in Chapter 5 of this volume.
Basic Pell Grant Formulas
Except for subscription-based programs (see
Volume 3, Chapter 1 for information on subscription-based programs), if all
coursework is offered in credit hours and scheduled to be completed within a specific time frame, the program generally
can be considered term-based. Term-based programs can have either standard terms or nonstandard terms. Pell Grants
are usually calculated differently for the two types of terms. Standard-term programs may be treated similarly to
nonstandard-term programs if the program does not conform to a traditional academic calendar or meet certain other
The school performs the steps in the Calculated Pell Grant process to determine the student9s Scheduled Award.
Step 1: Max Pell ($7,500) - SAI (1,004) = $6,496
Step 2: Calculated Pell Grant ($6,496) > Min Pell ($750)
Step 3: Round Calculated Pell Grant ($6,496) to the nearest $5 = $6,495
Step 4: Rounded Calculated Pell Grant ($6,495) > Pell Grant COA ($6,493)
Since the calculated Scheduled Award is greater than the Pell COA, the school determines the student9s
Scheduled Award must be capped at the COA. The student is eligible for a Scheduled Award of $6,493.
Volume 7, Chapter 2, Example 3: Ineligible for Calculated Pell Grant
A student9s calculated SAI is 6,751 and the Pell COA is $9,000. For demonstration purposes, assume the published
Max Pell for the award year is $7,500. The published Min Pell for the award year is 10% of the Max Pell, or $750.
The school performs the steps in the Calculated Pell Grant process to determine the student9s Scheduled Award.
Step 1: Max Pell ($7,500) - SAI (6,751) = $749
Step 2: Calculated Pell Grant ($749) < Min Pell ($750)
Since this student9s Calculated Pell Grant is less than the published Min Pell for the award year, the student is not
eligible for a Calculated Pell Grant. However, the student may still meet eligibility requirements for a Min Pell.
Crossover payment periods
34 CFR 690.64 3 Determining the award year for a Pell Grant crossover payment period
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conditions. Regardless of whether coursework is generally offered using terms, schools always have the option of treating
a program as a non-term program for Title IV purposes. See Volume 3, Chapter 1 for detailed guidance on standard term,
nonstandard term, and non-term programs.
When calculating Pell Grants, you must generally use the same formula for all years in a student9s program. In most
cases, a program9s academic calendar determines the formula that must be used to calculate Pell Grant awards, and that
formula is then used for all years of the program. However, for programs offered in standard terms a school has the option
of choosing between different Pell formulas, as explained later in this chapter. For such programs, a school normally
chooses one of the allowable formulas and uses that same formula for the duration of the program, but in rare cases a
school may have reason to change from the originally selected formula to a different allowable formula. Any such change
in Pell formulas for standard-term programs can only be made at the beginning of a new award year.
Pell Grant Payments by Payment Period
Pell Grants must be spread out in disbursements over the course of a program of study to help meet the student9s costs in
each payment period. The payment period affects when Pell funds are disbursed and the exact amount to be disbursed.
See
Volume 3, Chapter 1 for further discussion and definitions of payment periods.
A student who doesn9t enroll in one of the payment periods of a program won9t receive the portion of their award for that
payment period. If the student9s enrollment intensity changes in the next payment period, the annual award will change
and the disbursement amount for the payment period will be different.
Your school must apply its federal student aid full-time enrollment standards consistently to all students enrolled in the
same program of study for all Title IV purposes. However, your school9s academic standard may differ from the enrollment
standard used by the financial aid office for Title IV purposes. For example, your school's academic policy may define full
time as six hours during the summer, but the financial aid office uses 12 hours as the full-time standard for all terms,
including the summer term. For more on enrollment status, see Volume 1, Chapter 1.
Basic Pell Grant formulas
34 CFR 690.63 3 Pell Grant formulas
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Chapter 3
Pell Grant Enrollment Intensity and Cost of Attendance
Pell Grants and Enrollment Intensity
Enrollment intensity is the percentage of full-time enrollment at which a student is enrolled, rounded to the nearest whole
percent. For example, if full-time enrollment is 12 credit hours and the student is enrolled in 7 hours, the enrollment
intensity would be 7 ÷ 12 × 100% = 58.3% (round to 58%).
Pell Grant Enrollment Intensity for Term-Based Programs
In a term-based program, academic progress is always measured in credit hours (or an equivalent measure in a direct
assessment program), and the student9s annual award depends on their enrollment intensity. Your school9s standards for
full-time enrollment must meet the minimum regulatory requirements, which are discussed in detail in
Volume 1, Chapter
1 of the FSA Handbook.
Programs Offered in Standard Terms
For Title IV purposes, full-time enrollment for programs offered in standard terms is defined by the institution and, for
undergraduate students, must comprise at least 12 credit hours. Below is a chart of enrollment intensity relative to full
time, assuming the school defines it as 12 credit hours for financial aid purposes. Enrollment intensity only applies to
Pell Grant eligibility. All other Title IV programs use enrollment status categories (full-time, three-quarter
time, half-time, and less-than-half-time).
Credit Hours Enrollment Intensity Formula Enrollment Inten sity Enrollment Status Equivalent
12 (or more) 12 ÷ 12 = 1.0 100% Full-Time
11 11 ÷ 12 = 0.917 92% Three-Quarter Time
10 10 ÷ 12 = 0.833 83% Three-Quarter Time
9 9 ÷ 12 = 0.75 75% Three-Quarter Time
8 8 ÷ 12 = 0.667 67% Half-Time
7 7 ÷ 12 = 0.583 58% Half-Time
6 6 ÷ 12 = 0.50 50% Half-Time
5 5 ÷ 12 = 0.417 42% Less-than-Half-Time
4 4 ÷ 12 = 0.333 33% Less-than-Half-Time
3 3 ÷ 12 = 0.25 25% Less-than-Half-Time
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2 2 ÷ 12 = .0167 17% Less-than-Half-Time
1 1 ÷ 12 = 0.083 8% Less-than-Half-Time
Note: Enrollment intensity cannot exceed 100% for purposes of Pell Grant proration.
If the student is enrolled less than half time, it will also affect the cost components that are used in the student9s budget
(see
Volume 3, Chapter 2). Note that schools do not have the discretion to refuse to pay an otherwise eligible part-time
student, including during a summer term or intersession.
Programs Offered in Nonstandard Terms
Full-time enrollment for programs offered in nonstandard terms is determined by multiplying the number of weeks in each
term by the number of credit hours in an academic year, then dividing the result by the number of weeks in an academic
year. The full-time enrollment number is then used as the denominator for determining enrollment intensity.
For example, College X has a program that consists of four 8-week terms. College X defines the academic year as 40
quarter hours and 32 weeks of instructional time. College X determines that full-time enrollment is 10 credit hours per
term [(8 weeks per term * 40 credit hours)/32 weeks of instruction)]. Below is a chart of enrollment intensity, relative to
10 credit hours per term as full-time.
Quarter Credit Hours Enrollment Intensity Formula Enrol lment Intensity Enrollment Status Equivalent
10 (or more) 10 ÷ 10 = 1.0 100% Full-Time
9 9 ÷ 10 = 0.90 90% Three-Quarter Time
8 8 ÷ 10 = 0.80 80% Three-Quarter Time
7 7 ÷ 10 = 0.70 70% Half-Time
6 6 ÷ 10 = 0.60 60% Half-Time
5 5 ÷ 10 = 0.50 50% Half-Time
4 4 ÷ 10 = 0.40 40% Less-than-Half-Time
3 3 ÷ 10 = 0.30 30% Less-than-Half-Time
2 2 ÷ 10 = 0.20 20% Less-than-Half-Time
1 1 ÷ 10 = 0.10 10% Less-than-Half-Time
Note: Full-time enrollment for programs offered in nonstandard terms may differ from program to program and even from
term to term, as it is based on the number of weeks in each term, the number of credit hours in an academic year, and
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the number of weeks in an academic year.
Pell Grant Enrollment Intensity for Clock-Hour or Non-Term-Based Programs
Students enrolled in clock-hour or non-term-based programs are considered to be enrolled full-time for Pell Grant
purposes. See Chapter 4 of this volume for additional discussion of enrollment intesity for clock-hour and non-term-based
programs.
Pell Grant Enrollment Intensity for a Consortium Program
The enrollment intensity of a student attending more than one school under a consortium agreement is based on all the
courses taken that apply to the degree or certificate at the home school. The disbursing school may have to make some
adjustments if the coursework at the other school is measured in different units.
Below are examples of calculating enrollment intensity for students enrolled in regular coursework at their home
institution and coursework offered at another institution through a consortium agreement. The examples describe how to
calculate enrollment intensity when the units of enrollment are different (i.e., semester hours at the home school and
quarter hours at the consortium institution).
Students Enrolled in Only Correspondence Courses
Students enrolled in programs of correspondence study are considered to be enrolled no more than half time (the
equivalent of 50% enrollment intensity), even if they are enrolled in enough coursework to be full time. However, if the
correspondence study is combined with regular coursework, the student9s enrollment intensity might be more than half
Volume 7, Chapter 3, Example 1: Quarter Hours Converted to Semester Hours
A student is taking six semester hours at their home school and nine quarter hours at a different school under a
consortium agreement. To determine their enrollment intensity, the home school needs to convert the hours at
the host school into semester hours.
Because a quarter hour is about two-thirds of a semester hour, the home school multiplies the number of quarter
hours by two-thirds:
9 quarter hours x 2/3 = 6 semester hours
Then the hours taken at both schools can be added together:
6 semester hours (home school) + 6 semester hours (host school) = 12 semester hours
Volume 7, Chapter 3, Example 2: Semester Hours Converted to Quarter Hours
A student is taking nine quarter hours at their home institution and six semester hours at a different institution. To
determine their enrollment intensity, the home school needs to convert the hours at the host school into quarter
hours.
Because a semester hour is about one and one-half of a quarter hour, the home school multiplies the number of
quarter hours by 1.5:
6 semester hours x 1.5 = 9 quarter hours
Then, the hours taken at both schools can be added together:
9 quarter hours (home school) + 9 quarter hours (host school) = 18 quarter hours
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time (see section below for additional information).
A student enrolled only in a non-term correspondence program always has their award calculated based on 50%
enrollment intensity. For a student enrolled in a term-based correspondence program, your school must determine
whether the student is enrolled half time (six or more credit hours in a term) or less than half time (fewer than six credit
hours in a term). Special rules are used to determine the student9s enrollment intensity when the student is enrolled in a
combination of regular and correspondence coursework.
Students Enrolled in a Combination of Regular and Correspondence Courses
If a student is enrolled in a non-correspondence study program, but correspondence coursework is combined with regular
coursework, the correspondence courses must meet the following criteria to be considered in determining the student9s
enrollment intensity:
The courses must apply toward the student9s degree or certificate or must be remedial work to help the student in
their course of study.
The courses must be completed during the period required for the student9s regular coursework (e.g., a term).
The amount of correspondence work counted can9t be more than the number of credit hours of regular coursework in
which the student is enrolled (although a student taking at least a half-time load of correspondence courses must be
paid as at least a half-time student, regardless of the credit hours of regular coursework).
This chart assumes that the school defines full-time enrollment as 12 credit hours per term, and half-time enrollment as
six credit hours per term.
Regular Work Correspondence Work Adjusted Total Cours ework Enrollment Intensity
3 3 6 50%
3 6 6 50%
3 9 6 50%
6 3 9 75%
6 4 10 83%
6 6 12 100%
6 2 8 67%
2 6 6 50%
3 2 5 42%
As you can see in the second and third rows of the table, the number of correspondence hours counted in the total course
load was adjusted so that the correspondence hours never exceeded the regular hours taken. Note that, in the second to
last row of the table, the student is eligible for payment based on half-time (50% enrollment intensity) in correspondence
courses, because not all the correspondence work can be counted toward enrollment intensity.
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Determining Enrollment Intensity Using Credit Hour Equivalencies
For students enrolled in direct assessment programs and students with intellectual disabilities enrolled in comprehensive
transition and postsecondary (CTP) programs, enrollment intensity can be calculated using credit hour <equivalencies=
rather than credit hours.
For direct assessment programs, schools must develop a methodology, consistent with the requirements of the school9s
accrediting agency or state, to reasonably equate each class or competency in the direct assessment program to either
credit hour or clock hour equivalencies. For more information, see
Volume 2, Chapter 2 of the FSA Handbook.
Enrollment intensity for students with intellectual disabilities enrolled in CTP programs may also be determined using
credit hour equivalencies. These equivalent credits, earned from audited courses and other normally noncredit activities
undertaken as part of a program for students with disabilities, may be awarded for purposes of determining enrollment
intensity. For more detail, see Volume 1, Chapter 1 of the FSA Handbook.
Enrollment Intensity for Cooperative Education
In a cooperative education program, your school assesses the work to be performed by the student and determines the
equivalent academic course load. The student9s enrollment intensity is based on the equivalent academic course load.
Academic Calendar and Enrollment Intensity Changes
Because the academic calendar for a program determines which Pell formula you use, you need to review the conditions
for the use of each formula if the calendar for the program changes. This is particularly true if you are using Formulas 1
and 2, which have the most restrictive conditions.
If a student9s enrollment intensity changes during the year, your school may have to recalculate the student9s Pell Grant
payment based on the new enrollment intensity. We9ll discuss when a school is required to recalculate a student9s Pell
Grant payment due to a change in enrollment intensity in Chapter 7 of this volume.
Pell Grant Cost of Attendance
The types of costs included in the Pell Grant cost of attendance are the same as those for the other
Title IV programs;
however, the value of each component in the Pell Grant COA is always based on the costs for a full-time student for a
full academic year. See Volume 3, Chapter 2 of the FSA Handbook for a full discussion of cost of attendance and
allowable costs.
For Pell, costs for programs or enrollment periods longer or shorter than an academic year must be prorated so that they
are the costs for one full academic year. This is true for both parts of the academic year definition: if either the number of
weeks or the number of clock/credit hours differs from the academic year standard, the costs must be prorated to
determine the full-time, full-year Pell budget.
The need to prorate Pell costs is most likely to occur in these situations:
A term-based program that provides fewer weeks of instructional time than the minimum number of weeks of
instructional time in an academic year;
A non-term program that provides less than 24 semester hours, 36 quarter hours, or 900 clock hours and/or provides
fewer weeks of instructional time than the minimum number of weeks of instructional time in an academic year; or
A program that is longer than an academic year, where the costs for the entire program are charged at the beginning
Enrollment intensity changes
34 CFR 690.80(b)
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of the program.
There are two ways to prorate Pell costs, as shown in the following examples. Examples 3 and 4 are based on a program
that is shorter than an academic year. Example 5 shows how costs are prorated when they are charged for a program that
is longer than an academic year. Note that prorating the COA usually does not affect the amount of Pell Grant the student
receives. However, you9re required to report the full-time, full-year Pell budget when reporting disbursements to the
Common Origination and Disbursement System (COD).
Volume 7, Chapter 3, Example 3: Prorating Total Costs by Lesser of Two Fractions
You may take the student9s entire COA (tuition and fees, housing and food, etc.) and multiply it by the lesser of
the two fractions that represent the length of the academic year. One fraction is based on credit or clock hours
and the other is based on weeks of instructional time, as shown in this example.
Let9s use the example of a program that charges $10,500, awards 18 semester credits, and is completed by most
full-time students within 20 weeks of instructional time.
Credit/clock hours in academic year definition (24) ÷ Credit/clock hours awarded (18)
OR
Weeks in academic year definition (30) ÷ Weeks provided (20)
Since the fraction using credit hours is the lesser fraction, the program cost of $10,500 is multiplied by 24/18 to
find the full-year Pell cost.
$10,500 x (24/18) = $14,000
The full-time cost is $14,000.
Note: If one of the fractions is equal to one, for instance, if the program awards 24 credit hours, then the prorated
cost is the same as the original COA.
Volume 7, Chapter 3, Example 4: Prorating Academic Costs and Living Expenses Separately
As an alternative, you can separately prorate the costs associated with credit or clock hours (tuition and fees,
books and supplies, loan fees) and the costs associated with weeks of instructional time (housing and food,
miscellaneous expenses, disability expenses, transportation, dependent care, study abroad, reasonable costs
associated with employment as part of a cooperative education program). Using our earlier example of a program
lasting 20 weeks and awarding 18 credit hours, and specifying that the student9s tuition, books, supplies, etc.,
come to $4,500 and living expenses amount to $6,000, the calculation would look like this:
$4,500 x (24/18) = $6,000
$6,000 x (30/20) = $9,000
In this example, the student9s Pell COA is the sum of the two prorated costs, or $15,000.
Volume 7, Chapter 3, Example 5: Prorating Costs for a Non-term Program Longer Than an Academic
Year
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Less Than Half Time Pell Grant Cost of Attendance
As stated above, the value of each component in the Pell Grant COA is always based on the costs for a full-time student
for a full academic year. However, students enrolled less than half time may only have certain components included in
their COA. You may not include either (1) miscellaneous personal expenses or (2) housing and food if the student has
exhausted their less-than-half-time housing and food allowance (three semesters or equivalent in total, no more than two
of which may be consecutive at any one school). See
Volume 3, Chapter 2 of the FSA Handbook for a full discussion of
cost of attendance and allowable costs for less-time-half-time students.
The following examples use the cost of attendance described below and demonstrate how a student9s Scheduled Pell
Grant award may differ, based on a less-than-half-time enrollment intensity. For demonstration purposes, assume the
student has exhausted their less-than-half-time housing and food allowance at the institution.
COA Component Amount (FT) Amount (LTHT)
Tuition and Fees $2,500 $2,500
Books and Supplies $500 $500
Housing and Food $5,000 $0
Transportation $500 $500
Personal Expenses $500 $0
Pell Grant COA (Full-Year) $9,000 $3,500
You must also prorate costs if they are charged for a period longer than an academic year. You may use either of
the proration methods shown in Examples 3 and 4. We9ll use the example of a program awarding 1,000 clock
hours and providing 40 weeks of instructional time. Let9s assume that the school uses the regulatory minimums
and defines the academic year as 900 clock hours and 26 weeks. The total costs over the 40 weeks, including
tuition and living expenses, are $5,900. If we use the method in Example 3, this amount must be prorated by the
lesser of the following two fractions:
Credit/clock hours in academic year definition (900) ÷ Credit/clock hours awarded (1,000)
OR
Weeks in academic year definition (26) ÷ Weeks provided (40)
The lesser of the two fractions is the one based on weeks (26/40). Multiply the total program cost by this fraction
to determine the Pell costs for a full academic year:
$5,900 x (26/40) = $3,835
If the student is in a category where costs are limited, such as less-than-half-time enrollment, those costs that are
allowable must be based on costs for a full-time student for a full academic year. For instance, the tuition
component of the Pell COA for a less-than-half-time student must be based on the tuition costs that would be
incurred by a full-time student attending a full academic year.
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The student is eligible for Max Pell, which is $7,500 for demonstration purposes. As a full-time student, the Pell Grant COA
($9,000) is greater than the Pell Grant amount ($7,500), so the student9s Scheduled Award is $7,500. However, since the
less-than-half-time Pell Grant COA ($3,500) is less than the Pell Grant amount ($7,500), the student9s Scheduled Award as
a less-than-half-time student is capped at $3,500. See <Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 4= for a demonstration of how to
determine the student9s annual award, based on less-than-half-time enrollment intensity.
Pell Grant Cost of Attendance for Cooperative Education
If a student has a co-op job for the first term, the tuition and fees for that period can be prorated over the full academic
year for the program (which must include at least 24 semester/trimester hours, 36 quarter credit hours, or 900 clock
hours, as well as 30 weeks of instructional time, or, for clock-hour programs, 26 weeks). This prorated amount is then
added to the other COA components to arrive at the total cost for a full-time student for a full academic year.
For the rest of the year, your school can either use the COA with the projected amount or can recalculate the student9s
tuition and fees at the end of the first term to determine a new COA for the remaining payment periods. This decision
must be consistent with your school9s overall policy on recalculating for changes in a student9s costs. Note that the COA
can also include employment-related expenses.
Pell Grant Cost of Attendance for a Consortium Program
A student receiving a Pell Grant for attendance at two schools through a consortium agreement may have costs from both
schools at the same time. The student9s COA is calculated in the same way as for a student taking classes at only one
school. The student9s charges for tuition and fees and books and supplies at the consortium schools must be combined
into a single charge for a full academic year for purposes of the Pell calculation.
The school paying the student may choose to use actual charges for the student, which would simply be the sum of the
actual charges at each school. Of course, if the student isn9t attending full-time, your school will have to prorate these
tuition and fees and books and supplies charges so that they are the correct amounts for a full-time, full-year student.
If the disbursing school uses average charges, then the average full-time charges at each of the schools must be prorated
and combined. If the student is taking a full-time load at each school, the full-time tuition and fees charges for an
academic year at each school can be averaged to determine the tuition and fee cost. However, if the student is taking an
unequal course load, the disbursing school must prorate the charges based on the number of hours the student is taking
at each school.
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Chapter 4
Calculating Annual Awards Using Pell Grant Formulas
Fractions and Rounding
Use the following rules on fractions and rounding along with Pell Formulas 1-5 (discussed later) to properly calculate and
award Pell Grants.
Fractions
When using fractions, be careful to multiply first, and then divide to avoid an incorrect result. For example, the correct
way to prorate a $2,150 Scheduled Award for a payment period that is a nonstandard term of 10 weeks of instructional
time, for a program that has 30 weeks of instructional time is to multiply the Scheduled Award by the number of weeks of
instructional time in the term, then divide by the number of weeks of instructional time in the academic year or ($2,150 x
10) ÷ 30 = $716.67.
In this case, if you were to first divide the fraction consisting of the weeks in the payment period over the weeks in the
academic year to get a decimal (10 ÷ 30 = 0.333333...) and then round the decimal either down (0.33) or up (0.34),
multiplying that decimal by the Scheduled Award amount would result in a number that9s too low (0.33 x $2,150 =
$709.50) or too high (0.34 x $2,150 = $731.00).
Rounding
The Common Origination and Disbursement System (COD) accepts cents and whole dollar amounts in payment amounts
for Pell. If your school disburses in whole dollar amounts, you may round up if the decimal is 0.50 or higher, or round down
if it's less than 0.50. When rounding for a student expected to be enrolled for more than one payment period in the award
year, alternate rounding up and down, unless a different Pell award amount is calculated for the following term (for
example, when a student9s enrollment intensity changes). In this case, the alternate rounding restarts and you may round
up for two consecutive terms. Your policy on rounding must be applied equally to all students.
As an example, consider a student who is enrolled full time in a program offered in a traditional academic calendar
consisting of fall and spring semesters. The student's full-time Scheduled Award is $7,005. Under Pell Formula 1 (as
described later in this chapter), the student's full-time payment for each of the two terms (fall and spring) is $3,502.50.
Using the rounding rule stated above, you would round the student's fall payment up to $3,503, and round the spring
payment down to $3,502.
Finally, when calculating eligibility using Pell Formula 2 or 3, you may round the annual award to the nearest whole dollar
before determining the disbursement amounts for each term. See <
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 9= for a demonstration
of this rounding rule.
Pell Formula 1: Credit-Hour Programs Using Standard Terms With At Least 30 Weeks of Instructional Time
To use Pell Formula 1, the program must:
Measure academic progress in credit hours;
Be offered in semesters, trimesters, or quarters;
Define full-time enrollment for each term in the award year as at least 12 credit hours; and
Use an academic calendar providing at least 30 weeks of instructional time that meets either of the following sets of
requirements:
Important: These rounding rules do not apply if the amount disbursed would exceed the student9s Pell Grant
eligibility for the award year or place the student9s Lifetime Eligibility Used over 600%.
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1. The academic calendar consists of two semesters or trimesters (fall and spring) or three quarters (fall, winter,
and spring), none of which overlap any other term in the program (including a summer term, which need not
meet the definition of a standard term); or
2. The academic calendar consists of any two semesters or trimesters or any three quarters where4
The school starts the terms for different cohorts of students on a periodic basis (e.g., monthly);
The program is offered exclusively in semesters, trimesters, or quarters; and
Students are not allowed to be enrolled simultaneously in overlapping terms and must stay with the cohort
in which they start unless they withdraw from a term (or skip a term) and re-enroll in a subsequent term.
For Formula 1, the term is the payment period, and you divide the student9s annual award by the number of terms in the
program9s academic year. You can combine modules into a standard term that meets the requirements for Formula 1.
(See the discussion under "Combining modules into a standard term" in Volume 3, Chapter 1 for examples.) You must use
the same formula for a program for all payment periods in an award year.
Pell Formula 1 Examples
Pell Formula 1
34 CFR 690.63(a)(1)
34 CFR 690.63(b)
Note: Examples use fictional maximum ($7,500) and minimum ($750) Pell Grant award amounts for
demonstration purposes only. Award amounts in examples in this volume should not be used in packaging Pell
Grants for the 2025-26 award year.
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 1: Traditional Academic Calendar
In Formula 1, the annual award is simply divided by the number of terms in the fall through spring at a school with
a traditional academic calendar.
Full-time definition: 30 weeks of instruction; 12 credits per term
Scheduled Pell Grant award: $7,500
Semester Disbursement Schedule
Fall Spring
Credit Hours (Enrollment Intensity %) 12 (100%) 15 (100%)
Annual Pell Award $3,750 $3,750
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Quarter Disbursement Schedule
Fall Winter Spring
Credit Hours (Enrollment Intensity %) 12 (100%) 15 (100%) 12 (100%)
Annual Pell Award $2,500 $2,500 $2,500
Since the student is enrolled full time in either two semesters or three quarters, they will have received a full
Scheduled Award at the end of the spring term. If the student enrolls in a summer term, they may be eligible to
receive further Pell funds from the Year-Round Pell provision. See the Year-Round Pell Grant section in Chapter 5
of this volume.
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 2: Nontraditional Academic Calendar
A school offers a program that has an academic year of 36 weeks of instructional time and 36 quarter hours and is
offered exclusively in quarters. A new cohort of students starts a quarter on the first workday of each month, and
a student is not allowed to take courses in overlapping terms outside that student9s cohort.
Any three quarters of the program provide at least 30 weeks of instructional time since each quarter is 12 weeks
of instructional time in length. To be full time, a student must be enrolled in at least 12 quarter hours each term. A
student enrolled full time in any three quarters would have their Scheduled Award divided by 3 to determine their
disbursement for each payment period.
Full-time definition: 30 weeks of instruction; 12 credits per term
Scheduled Pell Grant award: $7,500
Disbursement Schedule
Term 1 Term 2 Term 3
Credit Hours (Enrollment Intensity %) 12 (100%) 15 (100%) 12 (100%)
Annual Pell Award $2,500 $2,500 $2,500
If the student enrolls in a fourth term, they may be eligible to receive further Pell funds from the Year-Round Pell
provision. See the Year-Round Pell Grant section in Chapter 5 of this volume.
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 3: Enrollment Intensity Change
Full-time definition: 30 weeks of instruction; 12 semester credits per term
Scheduled Pell Grant award: $7,500
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Disbursement Schedule (Full-time)
Fall Spring
Credit Hours (Enrollment Intensity %) 12 (100%) 15 (100%)
Annual Pell Award $3,750 $3,750
If the same student enrolls in 12 credits in the fall and but reduces their spring enrollment to 9 credits before the
start of the spring semester, their spring payment will be based on 75% enrollment intensity for spring, rather
than the full-time Scheduled Award.
Full-time Scheduled Pell Grant award: $7,500
Disbursement Schedule (Less than full-time)
Fall Spring
Credit Hours (Enrollment
Intensity %)
12
(100%)
9 (75%)
Annual Pell Award $3,750 ($7,500 x 75%) ÷ 2 = $2,812.50 (which may be rounded to
$2,813)
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 4: Less-than-half-time Enrollment and Pell Grant COA
A student plans to enroll full time in the fall and spring semesters. The school determines the student9s
disbursement schedule, shown below.
Full-time definition: 30 weeks of instruction; 12 credits per term
FT Pell Grant COA: $9,000
FT Scheduled Pell Grant award: $7,500
Semester Disbursement Schedule
Fall Spring
Credit Hours (Enrollment Intensity %) 12 (100%) 15 (1 00%)
Annual Pell Award $3,750 $3,750
Before the start of the fall semester, the student decides they need to reduce their planned enrollment to 3
credits in each term, which is less than half time. The school determines the student9s less than half-time (LTHT)
Pell Grant COA is $3,500, based on the restrictions on which COA components can be included for a less-than-half-
time student. See <Less Than Half Time Pell Grant Cost of Attendance= in Chapter 3 of this volume for further
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Formula 1 Alternate Calculation
If a standard-term program meets the requirements to use Formula 1 or Formula 2, you have the option of dividing the
annual award by the number of all the terms (including the summer term) in the award year.
Pell Formula 2: Standard-Term Programs with Less Than 30 Weeks in the Fall Through Spring
The regulations provide an option for standard-term programs whose fall through spring terms provide less than 30 weeks
discussion of this topic.
LTHT Pell Grant COA: $3,500
LTHT Scheduled Pell Grant award: $3,500
Since the student9s Scheduled Award is limited by the student9s LTHT Pell Grant COA, the school uses the capped
Scheduled Award as the starting point for prorating the award by the enrollment intensity.
Semester Disbursement Schedule
Fall Spring
Credit Hours
(Enrollment Intensity
%)
3 (25%) 3 (25%)
Annual Pell Award ($3,500 x 25%) ÷ 2 = $437.50 (whic h
may be rounded up to $438)
($3,500 x 25%) ÷ 2 = $437.50 (which may
be rounded down to $437)
After completing 3 credits in the fall, the student decides they can handle an extra course in the spring semester
and enrolls in 6 credits. Since the student is enrolled at least half time in the spring, the school uses the full-time,
full-year Pell Grant COA to determine the student9s Scheduled Award ($7,500).
Semester Disbursement Schedule
Fall Spring
Credit Hours (Enrollment
Intensity %)
3 (25%) 6 (50%)
Annual Pell Award ($3,500 x 25%) ÷ 2 = $437.50 (whic h may be rounded
up to $438)
($7,500 x 50%) ÷ 2 =
$1,875
Note: In this example, the student9s total annual award based on less-than-half-time enrollment in the fall
(25% enrollment intensity) and half-time enrollment in the spring (50% enrollment intensity) is $2,313
($438 in the fall plus $1,875 in the spring). COD will only accept one Pell COA and one annual award for
the award year. Schools should report the larger COA and total annual award to COD to calculate the
Scheduled Award and Pell LEU correctly.
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of instructional time. Formula 2 may be advantageous for your summer term calculations as it allows you to pay the same
Pell amount for the summer term as you would for a traditional fall through spring term. You may use Formula 2 if the
program:
Has an academic calendar that consists of two semesters or trimesters (in the fall through the following spring) or
three quarters (in the fall, winter, and spring);
Does not have overlapping terms; and
Measures progress in credit-hours and defines full-time enrollment for each term in the award year as at least 12
credit-hours.
Pell Formula 2 Example
Pell Formula 2
34 CFR 690.63(a)(2)
34 CFR 690.63(c)
Note: Examples use fictional maximum ($7,500) and minimum ($750) Pell Grant award amounts for
demonstration purposes only. Award amounts in examples in this volume should not be used in packaging Pell
Grants for the 2025-26 award year.
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 5: Calculation for Standard Terms With Fall Through Spring Terms Less
Than 30 Weeks
A school offers a program with a 14-week fall term, 15-week spring term, and 10-week summer term. The school
defines its academic year as 24 semester hours and 30 weeks. Because the fall and spring terms provide less
than the minimum 30 weeks of instructional time for an academic year, a student9s full-time Scheduled Award
must be prorated based on the number of weeks in the academic calendar to determine the annual Pell Grant
award. The annual Pell Grant award is then divided by the number of terms in the fall through spring.
Scheduled Award: $7,500
Weeks in the academic year (fall through spring): 29
Annual award: ($7,500 * 29) ÷ 30 = $7,250
Disbursement Schedule
Fall (14 weeks) Spring (15 weeks)
Credit Hours (Enrollment Intensity %) 12 (100%) 15 (100%)
Annual Pell Award $3,625 $3,625
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Formula 2 Alternate Calculation
Under Formula 2, you can perform the same alternate calculation as performed under Formula 1 if the weeks of
instructional time in the defined academic year are the same as the total number of weeks of instructional time in all the
terms in the award year.
Pell Formula 3: General Formula for Any Term-Based Program
Any term-based program may use this formula for Pell calculations, but you must use this formula for a term-based
program that does not qualify for Formulas 1 or 2 (for instance, a program that uses only nonstandard terms). To calculate
the payment for the term, you must prorate the Scheduled Award.
In Formula 3, the Scheduled Pell Award is prorated based on the number of weeks of instructional time in each term in the
academic year to determine the annual Pell Grant award by term. Unlike Formula 1, the annual award isn9t simply divided
evenly by the number of terms. And, unlike Formula 2 where you prorate the Scheduled Award based on the combined
total number of weeks in the fall through spring terms, Formula 3 requires you to prorate the Scheduled Award by the
number of weeks in each specific term, using the following formula:
(Scheduled Award x Weeks in the Term) ÷ Total Weeks in the Academic Year
Pell Formula 3 Examples
The total disbursed for this student ($7,250) is less than the student9s Scheduled Award ($7,500). This student
may be able to receive a disbursement comprising the remainder of their Scheduled Award during the summer
term. Additionally, the student may be eligible to receive funds from Year-Round Pell provisions. See the <Year-
Round Pell Grant= section in Chapter 5 of this volume.
Pell Formula 3
34 CFR 690.63(a)(3)
34 CFR 690.63(d)
Note: Examples use fictional maximum ($7,500) and minimum ($750) Pell Grant award amounts for
demonstration purposes only. Award amounts in examples in this volume should not be used in packaging Pell
Grants for the 2025-26 award year.
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 6: Payments for Standard Terms of Equal Length and Less Than 30
Weeks
For example, a college has a semester-based program with a 2-term academic calendar that comprises 28 weeks
of instructional time. The program9s academic year is defined as 24 semester hours and 30 weeks of instructional
time.
Scheduled Award: $7,500
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Disbursement Schedule
Fall (14 weeks) Spring (14 weeks)
Credit Hours (Enrollment Intensity %) 12 (100%) 15 (100%)
Calculation ($7,500 x 14) ÷ 30 ($7,500 x 14) ÷ 30
Annual Pell Award $3,500 $3,500
A single disbursement for a payment period generally cannot be for more than 50% of the annual award. If the
disbursement amount for one term would be more than 50% of the annual award, you must generally make the
payment in at least two disbursements in that payment period regardless of whether the term is a standard term
or a nonstandard term. You may disburse the remaining portion of the payment for the term that exceeds 50% of
the annual award once the student has completed half of the weeks of instructional time in the program9s
academic year definition.
However, if the disbursement for the payment period results in more than half of the annual award and occurs
after half of the weeks of instructional time of the academic year have passed during the payment period, you can
make a disbursement of the full payment for the payment period.
Single Disbursement May Not Exceed 50% of Award
34 CFR 690.63(f)
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 7: Disbursing More Than Half the Annual Award and the 50%
Requirement
For example, consider a program that must use Formula 3 and that has three terms with 17, 14, and 6 weeks of
instructional time. The program's academic year is defined as 30 weeks of instructional time and 24 semester
hours.
A student9s enrollment intensity is 50% in all three terms.
Scheduled Pell Award: $7,500
Annual Pell Award: $7,500 x 50% = $3,750
Disbursement Formula: (Annual Award x Weeks in the Term) ÷ Total Weeks in the Academic Year
Disbursement Schedule
Term 1 (17 weeks) Term 2 (14 weeks) Term 3 (6 weeks)
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Enrollment Intensity Standards for Nonstandard Terms
If you are using Formula 3 for a program that contains standard terms, the minimum full-time enrollment standards
previously discussed would still apply for the standard terms. However, if a program has nonstandard terms, the full-time
enrollment standard must be calculated for the nonstandard terms. Full-time enrollment status for a nonstandard term is
determined based on the length of the term in relation to the academic year:
[Weeks in nonstandard term ÷ weeks in academic year (at least 30)] x Credit-hours in academic year
After you determine the number of credit hours required for full-time enrollment, you can then determine the enrollment
intensity for the nonstandard term using the following formula:
Credit hours student takes in the nonstandard term ÷ Credit hours required for full-time enrollment in the nonstandard
term
Calculation ($3,750 x 17) ÷ 30 ($3,750 x 14) ÷ 30 ($3,750 x 6) ÷ 30
Disbursement 1st Disb.: $1,875
2nd Disb.: $250
$1,750 $750
For the first term, you may disburse 15/30 of the student9s award at the beginning of the term and the final 2/30
only after the 15th week of instructional time in the term. However, if the student establishes eligibility in the 16th
week of the term, you can make a disbursement of 17/30 of the annual award at that time. The student9s award
for the second and third terms may each be disbursed in a single disbursement.
Notes: These fractions use weeks of instructional time as defined in Volume 3, Chapter 1, which are not
necessarily the same number as the calendar weeks in an academic year.
If the program9s coursework is offered in whole credits, the resulting number is rounded up to the next whole
number (e.g., 3.3 is rounded up to 4).
If the program9s coursework is offered in fractions, the minimum number of credits required for full-time
enrollment need not be rounded. For example, 3.3 would remain 3.3 as full time, and a student taking 3.4 credits
in the term would be full time.
Determining Full-Time Enrollment for Nonstandard Te rms
34 CFR 668.2(b) <Full-time student=
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 8: Payments for Nonstandard Terms of Equal Length
A school has a program that consists of four 8-week terms. The school defines its academic year as 40 quarter
hours and 32 weeks of instructional time. Because this program does not use standard terms (semesters,
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trimesters, or quarters), the school must use Formula 3 to calculate Pell Grant disbursements for students in the
program.
Scheduled Award: $7,500
Full-time calculation: (8 weeks in term x 40 quarter hours) ÷ 32 weeks in academic year
Full time: 10 quarter hours
To determine the student9s payment for each payment period, multiply the Scheduled Award by the length of the
nonstandard term compared to the length of the academic year.
Payment calculation: (8 weeks in term x $7,500) ÷ 32 weeks in academic year = $1,875
Disbursement Schedule
Term 1 (8
weeks)
Term 2 (8
weeks)
Term 3 (8
weeks)
Term 4 (8
weeks)
Credit Hours (Enrollment
Intensity %)
10 (100%) 12 (100%) 10 (100%) 10 (100%)
Disbursement $1,875 $1,875 $1,875 $1,875
Because the student in this example will be enrolled on a full-time basis (at least 10 hours each term), the
student9s annual award is the same as the Scheduled Award. A student enrolled less than full-time must have
their Scheduled Award prorated based on enrollment intensity in each term. For example, a student enrolled in 8
credits in Term 1 would have enrollment intensity of 80%. Their disbursement for Term 1 would be [($7,500 X
80%) x 8] ÷ 32 = $1,500. This is a term-based, credit-hour program, so the payment period is the term.
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 9: Payments for Nonstandard Terms of Unequal Length
A school has a 10-week nonstandard term between two 12-week nonstandard terms. The terms do not overlap.
The academic year for the program is defined as 34 weeks of instructional time and 24 semester hours. Courses
are offered in whole credits. The school must use Formula 3 to calculate Pell Grant payments for students in this
program.
A student enrolls in six credit hours in each of the three terms. Because the program has nonstandard terms, the
school must determine the number of credit-hours required for full-time enrollment in each term, as follows.
For the first and third terms:
(12 weeks in term x 24 semester hours) ÷ 34 weeks in academic year = 8.47 (round up to 9)
For the second term:
(10 weeks in term x 24 semester hours) ÷ 34 weeks in academic year = 7.06 (round up to 8)
To be full time a student must enroll in nine semester hours (rounded up from 8.47) in the first and third terms,
and eight semester hours (rounded up from 7.06) in the second term.
Below is a sample disbursement schedule for a student who enrolls in 6 credits in each of the three terms.
Scheduled award: $7,005
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Pell Formula 4: Clock-Hour and Non-Term Credit-Hour Programs
All clock-hour and non-term credit-hour programs must use Formula 4.
Enrollment Intensity in Clock-Hour and Non-Term Credit-Hour Programs
For clock-hour programs and for non-term credit-hour programs, enrollment intensity only makes a difference if the
student is attending less than half time. If that9s the case, only certain components of the COA are used (see the
discussion in Volume 3, Chapter 2 of the FSA Handbook).
The annual award for a student in a clock-hour or non-term credit-hour program is always based on the full-
time Scheduled Award, even if the student is attending less than full time.
Calculating Payment Amounts in Clock-Hour and Non-Term Credit-Hour Programs
Pell Grants must be paid in installments over the course of the academic year or program of study to help meet the
student9s costs in each payment period. The payment period determines when Pell funds are disbursed and the exact
amount to be disbursed. You must use the rules discussed in Chapter 1 of Volume 3 to determine the payment periods for
clock-hour and non-term credit-hour programs.
In non-term programs, the student9s Pell award is not reduced for part-time enrollment unless the student is enrolled less
than half time, in which case the student9s COA must be adjusted. However, if a program is less than an academic year in
length (in either clock/credit hours or weeks of instructional time), students enrolled in the program won9t receive a full
Scheduled Award.
Enrollment intensity: Terms 1 and 3 = 6 ÷ 9 or 67%; Term 2 = 6 ÷ 8 or 75%
Disbursement Schedule
Term 1 (12 weeks) Term 2 (10 weeks) Term 3 (12 weeks)
Credits
(Enrollment
Intensity %)
6 (67%) 6 (75%) 6 (67%)
Annual Award $7,005 x 67% = $4,693.35
(may be rounded to $4,693)
$7,005 x 75% = $5,253.75
(may be rounded to $5,254)
$7,005 x 67% = $4,693.35
(may be rounded to $4,693)
Disbursement ($4,693 x 12) ÷ 34 =
$1,656.35 (may be rounded to
$1,656)
($5,254 x 10) ÷ 34 =
$1,545.29 (may be rounded to
$1,545)
($4,693 x 12) ÷ 34 =
$1,656.35 (may be rounded to
$1,656)
Pell Formula 4
34 CFR 690.63(a)(4)
34 CFR 690.63(e)
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As in the case of the other formulas, you must perform comparable prorations of the award for each payment period in
the student9s program. The calculation for the payment period prorates a student9s Scheduled Award based on either (1)
the number of credit or clock hours in the payment period compared to the credit or clock hours in the defined academic
year or (2) the number of weeks of instructional time in the payment period compared to the weeks of instructional time
in the academic year. To determine the payment for a payment period, multiply the student9s Scheduled Award by the
lesser of:
Number of credit/clock hours in the payment period ÷ Number of credit/clock hours in the program9s academic year
OR
Weeks in the payment period ÷ Weeks in the program9s academic year
Enrollment Intensity Standards for Clock-Hour and Other Non-Term Programs
For non-term programs, the enrollment minimums are:
Full-time enrollment (clock hours): at least 24 clock hours per calendar week.
Full-time enrollment (credit hours): 24 semester hours, 24 trimester hours, or 36 quarter hours per academic year.
Less than half-time enrollment (clock hours and credit hours) is defined as less than half of the workload of the
minimum full-time requirement.
Pell Formula 4 Examples
Note: These fractions use weeks of instructional time as defined in Volume 3, Chapter 1, which are not
necessarily the same number as the calendar weeks in an academic year. The program9s defined academic year
must be at least 30 weeks for credit-hour programs or 26 weeks for clock-hour programs.
Note: Examples use fictional maximum ($7,500) and minimum ($750) Pell Grant award amounts for
demonstration purposes only. Award amounts in examples in this volume should not be used in packaging Pell
Grants for the 2025-26 award year.
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 10: Payments for Clock-Hour Program
A school offers a program that is 900 clock-hours and 22 weeks of instructional time in length. The school defines
the academic year for the program based on the regulatory minimums: 900 clock-hours and 26 weeks of
instructional time. The school has established two payment periods of 450 clock hours and 11 weeks each for this
program.
To determine the disbursement for the payment period, the school must multiply the Scheduled Award by the
lesser of:
the fraction comparing the hours in the payment period to the hours in the academic year (450/900), or
the fraction comparing the weeks in the payment period to the weeks in the academic year (11/26).
If the student9s Scheduled Award is $7,500, the two possible calculations would be as follows:
(450 clock hours in the payment period * $7,500) ÷ 900 clock hours in the academic year = $3,750; or
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Coursework Completion Requirement and Withdrawal/Re-entry in Non-term Programs
Students in non-term programs must successfully complete a payment period to receive subsequent payments. We
discuss the effect of withdrawal and re-entry into a program in Volume 5.
Pell Formula 5: Calculations for Correspondence Study Programs
Formulas 5A and 5B must be used for correspondence study programs. Students enrolled in correspondence courses are
eligible for aid under Title IV programs only if the courses are part of a program leading to an associate9s, bachelor9s, or
graduate degree. In addition, the correspondence program must meet the criteria for an eligible program (see Volume 2
of the FSA Handbook).
Pell COA for Correspondence Study Programs
(11 weeks in the payment period * $7,500) ÷ 26 weeks in the program9s academic year = $3,173.08
In this example, the lesser fraction is the one based on weeks. Therefore, the student9s payment for the first
payment period will be $3,173.08 (or $3,173 if your school does not award cents). The student can get this
payment when they begin the program. They can receive a second payment of $3,173.08 (or $3,173 if your
school does not award cents) after the student successfully completes the 450 clock hours and 11 weeks in the
first payment period.
Volume 7, Chapter 4, Example 11: Payments for Credit-Hour Non-term Program
A school offers a program that is 24 quarter hours and 20 weeks of instructional time in length. The academic
year for the program is defined as 36 quarter hours and 30 weeks of instructional time. The school has established
two payment periods of 12 quarter hours and 10 weeks each for this program. To determine the disbursement for
the payment period, the school must multiply the Scheduled Award by the lesser of:
the fraction comparing the hours in the payment period to the hours in the academic year (12/36), or
the fraction comparing the weeks in the payment period to the weeks in the academic year (10/30).
If a student9s Scheduled Award is $7,500, the two possible calculations would be as follows:
(12 quarter hours x $7,500) ÷ 36 quarter hours in academic year = $2,500; or
(10 weeks * $7,500) ÷ 30 weeks in program's academic year = $2,500
Since the two resulting fractions (12/36 and 10/30) are the same, either calculation produces the same result:
$2,500. Thus, the student9s payment for the first payment period will be $2,500. The student can receive this
payment when they begin the program. The school can make a second payment of $2,500 after the school has
determined that the student has successfully completed 12 quarter hours and 10 weeks of instructional time of
the program.
Pell Grants for Correspondence Study
34 CFR 690.66
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The cost of attendance (COA) for students engaged in a program of study by correspondence must include tuition and
fees and, if required, books, course materials, supplies, and equipment. A school may also include an allowance for travel,
housing, and food costs incurred specifically for a period of residential training. The COA must be based on the costs for a
full-time student for a full academic year for the relevant component. If the student9s program or period of enrollment, as
measured in credit hours, is longer or shorter than an academic year as measured in credit hours, the tuition and fees for
the program or enrollment period must be prorated.
Because the correspondence study COA for the nonresidential component only includes costs associated with credit
hours, your school always uses the credit-hour-related fraction to prorate the COA. (Because there are no costs associated
with weeks of instructional time in the correspondence cost of attendance, your school must prorate the cost only if the
number of hours in the program is shorter or longer than in an academic year):
Credit hours in program9s definition of an academic year ÷ Credit hours to which the costs apply
The resulting amount is the full-time, full-academic-year cost used for calculating Pell Grant eligibility.
Pell Enrollment Intensity for Correspondence Study Programs
Students enrolled in programs of correspondence study are no more than half-time students (the equivalent of 50%
enrollment intensity), even if they are enrolled in enough coursework to be full time. However, if the correspondence
study is combined with regular coursework, the student9s enrollment intensity might be more than 50%. For a student
enrolled in a term-based correspondence program, your school must determine how many credits to include in the
numerator of the enrollment intensity formula to determine the student9s annual award. See the <Students taking a
combination of regular and correspondence courses= section in Chapter 3 for additional guidance.
A student enrolled only in a non-term correspondence program always has their award calculated based on 50%
enrollment intensity.
Pell Correspondence Payment Periods and Timing of Payments
For a
non-term correspondence program, there must be two equal payment periods in each academic year. Each payment
period is the lesser of half the academic year or half the program (measured in credit hours). In addition, you can9t
disburse a Pell payment for the first payment period until the student has completed 25% of the work in the academic
year or the program, whichever is shorter. You can9t make the second payment until the student has completed 75% of
the work in the academic year or program.
For a
term-based correspondence program, as for other term-based programs, the payment period is the term. However,
you can9t disburse Pell for a payment period until the student has completed 50% of the lessons or completes 50% of the
work for the term, whichever is later.
If the correspondence program has a required period of
residential training, you must treat the residential training as an
additional payment period and determine the payment for that payment period using either Formula 3 or Formula 4. Note
that the correspondence portion of the program is still treated as a separate portion of the program that9s divided into
equal payment periods.
Pell Calculations in Correspondence Programs
Formula 5 is used for students enrolled only in correspondence courses (not including residential components of
correspondence programs). There are two versions of Formula 5:
Pell Grant Correspondence Program Disbursements
34 CFR 690.66
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1. Formula 5A (which is like Formula 4) is used for non-term programs, and
2. Formula 5B (which is like Formula 3) is used for term-based programs.
For a residential component of a correspondence program, you must use either Formula 3 or Formula 4. If the residential
component is a term, you must Formula 3; otherwise, you use Formula 4.
For non-term correspondence programs, this step of the calculation is like the step under Formula 4. For term-based
correspondence programs, this step is the same as under Formula 3.
For the Pell calculation, you are required to determine the number of weeks of instructional time in the program by
preparing a written schedule for the lessons that the student will submit. A non-term correspondence program must
require at least 12 hours of preparation per week. A term-based correspondence program must require at least 30 hours
of preparation per semester hour or at least 20 hours of preparation per quarter hour during the term.
Formula 5A: Non-Term Correspondence Program
You first multiply the annual award (50% of the Scheduled Award) by the lesser of:
Number of credit-hours in the payment period ÷ Credit-hours in the program9s academic year definition
OR
Weeks in the payment period ÷ Weeks in the program9s academic year definition
Notes:
Formula 5B: Term Correspondence Program
You multiply the annual award (Scheduled Award times enrollment intensity) by the weeks of instructional time in the
term divided by the weeks in the academic year:
Weeks in the term ÷ Weeks in the program9s academic year definition
These fractions use weeks of instructional time as defined in Volume 3, Chapter 1, which are not necessarily the same
number as the calendar weeks in an academic year.
A single disbursement for a payment period can never be more than 50% of the annual award. If the resulting amount is
more than 50% of the annual award, your school must make the payment in at least two disbursements in that payment
period. You may not disburse an amount that exceeds 50% of the annual award until the student has completed the time
in the payment period that equals 50% of the weeks of instructional time in the program9s academic year definition.
Correspondence Multiple Formulas Exception
Correspondence Payment Periods
34 CFR 690.66(b) 4 non-term
34 CFR 690.66(c)(3) and (c)(4) 4 term-based
Note: These fractions use weeks of instructional time as defined in Volume 3, Chapter 1, which are not
necessarily the same number as the calendar weeks in an academic year.
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If a correspondence student has one or more payment periods in an award year that contain only correspondence study,
and one or more payment periods in the same award year that contain a residential portion, your school will use two
different formulas for determining a student9s payment for each payment period. This is the only circumstance in which a
school would use two different Pell formulas within the same award year for students in the same program.
Academic Coursework
The phrase <academic coursework= does not necessarily refer to credits. If a student does not earn any credits until the
end of the term or program, <academic coursework= may refer to the lessons or other measures of learning within a
course or a program. For instance, if a course or program is made up of 40 equal lessons, the student reaches the halfway
point as follows:
If the student successfully completes the first 20 lessons before the calendar midpoint of the academic year, the
second payment period does not begin until the calendar midpoint.
If the student completes the first half of the academic year before successfully completing the first 20 lessons, the
second payment period does not begin until the student successfully completes the first 20 lessons.
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Chapter 5
Summer Terms, Crossover Payment Periods, and Year-Round Pell
Payment periods don9t always fall neatly into one award year or another. A payment period that begins before July 1 and
ends on or after July 1 is called a <crossover payment period.= The formula for calculating the payment for a crossover
payment period is the same as that for any other payment period in the award year.
Crossover Payment From the Proper Award Year
For Pell purposes, you must consider a crossover payment period to occur entirely within one award year and calculate
the student9s Pell award and disburse Pell funds from the award year selected. If you only have a valid FAFSA Submission
Summary/ISIR from one award year, you must rely on that record and the award year to which the valid FAFSA
Submission Summary/ISIR pertains. Aside from these considerations, the decision about which award year to use is based
on the student9s remaining eligibility in the earlier award year. This assessment is made according to your school9s
payment period policy, which for crossover Pell payment periods may apply to:
an individual student;
all students or a category of students without exception; or
all students or a category of students with allowance for exceptions in the case of individual students.
Although you may assign a crossover payment period to either of the relevant award years (subject to the limitations
described below), you must make the assignment based on what you determine will be most beneficial to students.
You may assign the Pell Grant award to a different award year than the rest of the student9s Title IV aid. You can make a
payment for a crossover payment period out of either award year if the student has a valid FAFSA Submission
Summary/ISIR for the award year selected. You may assign two consecutive crossover payment periods to the same
award year. For example, you could treat summer 2025 and summer 2026 as both being in the 2025-26 award year. You
may also source the Pell funds from different award years for different students, as their eligibility allows, depending on
their remaining eligibility and financial need.
You may not make a payment which will result in the student receiving more than their Scheduled Award for an award
year, unless the student is eligible for a Year-Round Pell award (see Year-Round Pell Grant section later in this chapter), in
which case the student may be eligible to receive up to 150% of their Scheduled Award for the award year.
Term Schools: Using the Formula for Summer Sessions
If your school offers a summer term in addition to fall through spring terms that qualify for Formula 1 or 2, you will
calculate the student9s payment for the summer term using the same formula that you used to calculate payments for the
other terms in the award year to which the summer term is assigned. If you use Formula 3 for Pell Grant calculations in
any of the terms in an award year, then you must use Formula 3 for all terms in that program occurring in that award
year, including the fall through spring terms. (Note that if your program is a standard-term program in the fall through
spring and does not define full-time enrollment in the summer as at least 12 credit-hours, you must use Formula 3 for Pell
calculations for all terms in the award year.) Your school must apply its definition of full-time status for the
summer term consistently for all Title IV program purposes.
Crossover Payment Periods
34 CFR 690.64
Dear Colleague Letter GEN-17-06
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Pell Grant COA for Summer Terms
Costs used to determine Pell Grant eligibility for summer terms are figured in the same way as for any other payment
period; that is, the costs are based on the costs for a full-time student for a full academic year. If your school has fall and
spring semesters that comprise an academic year, you can9t add the costs for the summer term to the costs for the fall
and spring semesters. The award for the summer term is still based on the costs for one academic year. However, if the
academic year definition includes the summer term, then the costs for the summer term
must be included in the cost for
a full academic year.
If the student was previously enrolled in the award year, you may be able to use the same Pell Grant COA for the summer
term that you used for the immediately preceding term that the student attended. However, this isn9t possible if the costs
are different from the fall through spring, such as a different tuition charge per credit hour, or if you are required to
recalculate the Pell Grant COA. If it9s necessary to base the student9s Pell Grant COA on the summer term, you must
prorate the summer costs to the length of an academic year to establish the cost for a full academic year. See Chapter 3
of this volume for additional information on prorating costs in the Pell Grant program.
If the summer session is the first term in the award year for that student (for example, your school is paying a student for
the summer 2025 term from the 2025-26 award year), you must establish the student9s full-year cost based on the costs
for the
summer term. If the student enrolls in another term in that award year, you may have to recalculate the student9s
costs for the later term.
Receiving Less Than the Scheduled Award Due to Crossover
A student may also receive less than a Scheduled Award in an award year if the student9s program crosses award years
and the student9s Pell Grant award in one of the award years is for a portion of the program that is less than a full
academic year. For example, if a student9s last term of enrollment to complete their academic program is summer 2025,
and the school treats the payment period as a header to the 2025-26 academic year, the student may receive a Pell Grant
disbursement for that one payment period, which will be less than the student9s full Scheduled Award for 2025-26.
Crossover Pell and Withdrawal
For details on how to perform Return of
Title IV Funds calculations in a crossover Pell situation, see Volume 5, Chapter 2 of
the FSA Handbook.
Summer Modules
If a term-based school offers a series of modules that overlap two award years, these modules may be combined and
treated as one term. Schools are not required to combine modules. However, if you do not combine the modules to create
a single term and the modules overlap, the program must be considered a non-term program.
When you combine modules into a single term (i.e., payment period), the weeks of instructional time in the combined
term are the weeks of instructional time from the beginning of the first module to the date the last module ends. The
student9s enrollment intensity for the entire payment period must be calculated based on the total number of credits the
student is projected to take for all modules. You must project the enrollment intensity for a student based on the credits
the student has:
Pre-registered or registered to take for all modules;
Committed to take for all modules in an academic plan or enrollment contract; or
Committed to take for all modules in some other document.
Volume 7, Chapter 5, Example 1: Module Enrollment Intensity
A student is enrolled in a summer session with three-week modules that School A has combined into one term.
The school uses Formula 1 to calculate the student9s payment for the combined term and must define full-time
enrollment as at least 12 credit hours, even though full-time enrollment for an individual module may be defined
as fewer than 12 credit hours. The student is enrolled for six credits during the combined summer term. The
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When you combine the modules into a single term, a student cannot be paid more than the amount for one payment
period for completing any combination of the modules. If the modules are not combined into a single payment period and
they do not overlap each other, you must treat each module as a separate nonstandard term and generally must use
Formula 3 to calculate Pell Grant payments for the program. If, for each module, you define full time as at least 12 credit
hours, you may be able to use Formula 1 or 2 if the program otherwise qualifies for one of these formulas.
If a combined module term crosses over the June 30 award year end date to include the July 1 award year begin date, the
combined term must be treated as a crossover payment period regardless of which modules students attend. If your
program has two summer modules and only one of the modules crosses over the award year date boundary and you do
not combine the sessions into a larger term, then only the term that spans the award year boundary is considered a
crossover payment period.
If the modules are combined in a single term and a student does not begin attendance in all the modules that they were
expected to attend, recalculation of prior disbursements is required based on the resulting changed enrollment status.
Also, if you use Formula 3 for any of the summer modules, or any other nonstandard term (e.g., a winter intersession that
is not attached to an adjacent standard term), remember that you must also use it for all other terms in the award year,
including fall through spring.
student9s enrollment intensity is equal to the proportion of the number of credits for which the student is enrolled
to the number of credit hours in the school9s definition of full-time enrollment for the combined term. Therefore,
the student9s enrollment intensity is 50% for the combined summer term.
Volume 7, Chapter 5, Example 2: Modules Combined Into One Term
A student enrolls part time at a school which defines its academic year as 24 semester hours and 30 weeks of
instructional time. In addition to fall and spring semesters, the school offers three summer modules. Each module
provides four weeks of instructional time (as defined in Volume 3, Chapter 1). The school can either combine the
modules into a single standard term or treat each module as a separate nonstandard term. The school chooses to
combine the modules into a single term providing 12 weeks of instructional time with full-time enrollment defined
as 12 semester hours. If the school meets the conditions for use of Formula 1 in its fall and spring semesters, it
can use Formula 1 to calculate Pell Grant payments for this summer session.
The student enrolls for three semester hours in each of the modules (nine hours total in the combined term) which
is 75% enrollment intensity. The student9s Scheduled Award is $7,500 and their annual award is $5,625 ($7,500 x
75%). To calculate the student9s payment, the school simply divides the annual award by two, the number of
terms in the fall through spring: $5,625/2 = $2,812.50. The school may round the payment up to $2,813.
Volume 7, Chapter 5, Example 3: Modules Treated as Nonstandard Terms
If the school didn9t combine these modules and defined full-time enrollment for each 4-week module as fewer
than 12 semester hours, it would have to calculate all Pell payments for the program using Formula 3. Because
these are nonstandard terms, the school would have to determine the student9s enrollment intensity for each
module by prorating the standard for full-time enrollment in a full academic year (24 semester hours):
(24 semester hours × 4 weeks in module) ÷ 30 weeks in academic year = 3.2 semester hours (round up to 4
semester hours because the school only offers courses in whole credits)
Note: Weeks of instructional time are defined in Volume 3, Chapter 1, which are not necessarily the same number
as the calendar weeks in an academic year.
For each of the 4-week modules, a full-time student must enroll in 4 semester hours, and based on that standard,
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Year-Round Pell Grant
Students may be eligible to receive up to 150% of their Pell Grant Scheduled Award for an award year. This provision is
called "Year-Round Pell" or "additional Pell=. Students eligible for Year-Round Pell awards are subject to the normal
duration of eligibility rules and LEU limits.
Year-Round Pell allows students who have already exhausted their Scheduled Award for an award year to continue
receiving Pell funds (for example, for a summer trailer term), or to receive Pell funds without prematurely reducing their
Pell eligibility for the remainder of the award year (for example, for a summer header term). A student9s Year-Round Pell
eligibility is certified by the Additional Eligibility Indicator (AEI) in COD.
With Year-Round Pell, students do not receive more Pell Grant funds in each payment period. They receive the same
amount as is normally calculated for a payment period, but students who are otherwise eligible for Pell Grants may
receive Pell Grant funds for an award year up to 150% of their Scheduled Award.
Further, a student may receive funds from the first 100% of their Scheduled Award and some portion of the additional
50% of their Scheduled Award from the Year-Round provisions in the same payment period.
the 3 semester hours that the student is attending in each module count as 75% enrollment intensity (3 ÷ 4). The
student9s Scheduled Award is $7,500 and their annual award is $5,625 ($7,500 x 75%). Note that the school would
use the Pell COA for a full-time student attending a full academic year.
The school would determine the student9s payment for each module (assuming the student9s Scheduled Award
remains unchanged across both award years):
(4 weeks in module × $5,625) ÷ 30 weeks in academic year = $750
The student would receive $750 for each of the modules, for a total of $2,250 for the summer. Again, these
payments for one or more modules that are in the prior award year may need to be reduced if the student had
previously received payments for the fall and spring semesters in the same award year. Also, the school must use
Formula 3 for the fall through spring terms.
Volume 7, Chapter 5, Example 4: Year-Round Pell at a Semester School with Full-Time Enrollment
A student attends a school which provides coursework on a semester calendar, defines full time as 12 credits, and
awards Pell using Formula 1. The student9s enrollment begins in the fall semester. The student9s Scheduled Award
is $6,005. The student plans to enroll full-time in the fall and spring semesters, so their annual award is equal to
the Scheduled Award. Since the school9s academic calendar consists of two semesters, the school divides the
Scheduled Award by 2 to determine the student9s payment for the fall and spring terms ($6,005 ÷ 2 = $3,002.50
which the school rounds to $3,003 in the fall and down to $3,002 in the spring). The student has now received
100% of their Scheduled Award for the year.
The student decides to enroll for the summer term, which the school treats as a trailer to the previous award year.
Without Year-Round Pell, the student9s Pell eligibility would be exhausted, but the Year-Round Pell provision allows
the student to receive their calculated award of up to $3,002.50 in additional Pell funds for the summer term,
based on their enrollment intensity, not to exceed 150% of their Scheduled Award. If the student enrolls full-time
and the school chooses to award in whole dollars, the school should truncate (not round) the cents and award
$3,002 for the summer term so as not to exceed 150% of the Scheduled Award.
Year-Round Pell
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HEA Section 401(b)(9)
Dear Colleague Letter GEN-17-06
Volume 7, Chapter 5, Example 5: Year-Round Pell at a Semester School with Part-Time Enrollment
A student attends a school which provides coursework on a semester calendar, defines full time as 12 credits, and
awards Pell using Formula 1. The student9s enrollment begins in the summer, which the school treats as a header
to the 2025-26 award year. The student has a Scheduled Award of $7,000. The student enrolls in 9 credits in the
summer term. The student9s enrollment intensity is 75% (9 credits enrolled ÷ 12 credits required for full-time). To
determine the annual award, the school multiplies the Scheduled Award by the enrollment intensity ($7,000 x
75% = $5,250). Since the school9s academic calendar consists of two semesters, the school divides the annual
award by 2 to determine the student9s payment for the summer term ($5,250 ÷ 2 = $2,625). This represents
37.5% of the student9s Scheduled Award.
After the summer term, the student continues in the fall and enrolls full time. The student9s fall Pell award is
$3,500 (the school disburses 50% of a Scheduled Award for the fall semester). The student has now received
87.5% ($6,125) of their $7,000 Scheduled Award, leaving 12.5% ($875) in remaining eligibility.
The student again enrolls full time in the spring term. Under Pell rules, the student has only 12.5% ($875) in
remaining eligibility from their Scheduled Award. However, since the student meets all the other standard Pell
eligibility criteria, the student is eligible for a Year-Round Pell award amount of up to 50% of their Scheduled
Award. This means that the student could receive a total of up to $10,500 (150% of their Scheduled Award
amount of $7,000) for the award year. However, the disbursement for each term must be calculated per the Pell
rules described in this volume, so the actual amount the student receives may be less than this maximum.
The school normally awards a full-time student 50% of their annual award for a standard spring semester, and the
award amount for the term under Year-Round Pell is calculated by the same method as for a student9s Scheduled
Award, so the student's spring semester award would be $3,500. Adding this amount to the $6,125 the student
has already received for the award year totals $9,625, which is less than 150% of the student's Scheduled Award
(specifically, this is 137.5% of the student9s Scheduled Award). Therefore, the school can award the spring Pell
award of $3,500 as calculated.
In this example, the spring term disbursement is made up of 12.5% ($875) remaining from the student9s
Scheduled Award and 37.5% ($2,625) from the Year-Round Pell eligibility.
Volume 7, Chapter 5, Example 6: Year-Round Pell in a Clock-hour Program
A student enrolls in an 1,125 clock-hour program over 32.5 weeks. The program is scheduled to occur entirely
within the 2025-26 award year and has an academic year of 900 clock hours and 26 weeks of instructional time.
Payment periods 1 and 2 consist of 450 clock hours and 13 weeks; payment period 3 consists of 225 clock hours
and 6.5 weeks. The student has a Scheduled Award of $7,000.
The school awards the student $3,500 in Pell for each of the first two payment periods of 450 clock hours and 13
weeks of instructional time. For the remaining 225 hours and 6.5 weeks of instructional time in the program, the
school calculates that the student would be eligible to receive $1,750 in Pell if the student9s Scheduled Award
would allow it. Without Year-Round Pell, the student would have no remaining Pell Grant eligibility, as they have
already received a 100% Scheduled Award of $7,000 for 2025-26, but with Year-Round Pell, if the student remains
in all other ways Pell-eligible, the student is eligible to receive up to an additional 50% of their $7,000 Scheduled
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Award, for a maximum total of $10,500.
Adding $1,750 to the $7,000 the student has already received, the school sees that the student will be awarded a
total of $8,750 for 2025-26, which is within their $10,500 Year-Round Pell maximum. Note that the school does
not increase the student9s final award for the award year to match their Year-Round Pell maximum; the student9s
awards for each payment period are calculated according to the Pell rules described previously in this volume.
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Chapter 6
Transfer Students and Remaining Eligibility
Calculating and Awarding Remaining Eligibility
The Pell payment for a transfer student is calculated in the same way as for any new student. That is, you must calculate
payments for each payment period following the rules given in previously in this volume. However, a transfer student9s
remaining Pell eligibility at your school is reduced if the student received Pell funds for the same award year at any prior
schools. You can identify the student9s prior Pell disbursements when you review their Financial Aid History in NSLDS and
COD.
Calculating Remaining Eligibility
Once you9ve identified the Pell amounts that a transfer student has already received for the award year, you must
calculate the percentage of the Scheduled Award that has been used. This percentage is calculated by dividing the
amount disbursed at the previous school by the student9s Scheduled Award at that school (COD calculates this and you
can refer to COD to see what the percentage of remaining eligibility will be for a student).
Pell disbursed at prior school ÷ Scheduled Award at prior school = % of Scheduled Award used
Then subtract this percentage from 100% (or 150%, if the student is enrolled and eligible for a Year-Round award). The
result is the maximum percentage of the Scheduled Award that the student may receive at your school. Note that a
transfer student receives the same payments as any other student until the limit (up to 150% of a Scheduled Award; see
the Year-Round Pell Grant section in Chapter 5 of this volume) is reached. Give the student the full amount for each
payment period, rather than trying to ration the remaining amount by splitting it evenly across the
remaining terms.
A transfer student must repay any amount received in an award year that exceeds their Scheduled Award (or 150% of
their Scheduled Award, if enrolled and eligible for Year-Round Pell), unless the school that disbursed the award was at
fault by failing to follow the administrative requirements in
34 CFR 668.
Why Percentages Are Used
A student may have different Scheduled Awards at different schools/programs. Using percentages ensures that a student
does not receive more than 100% (or 150%, if enrolled and eligible for Year-Round Pell) of the student9s Scheduled Award.
For example, the COAs at the two schools may be different or one school may modify data elements on the FAFSA form
due to professional judgment where another school did not. The percentages are also used to compare the portions of a
student9s total eligibility that have been used at both schools. If the student9s Scheduled Award is the same at both
schools, the financial aid administrator can find the amount of the student9s remaining eligibility simply by subtracting the
amount received at the first school from the Scheduled Award.
Payment Period for a Transfer Student at a Non-Term School
When a student transfers into a non-term credit-hour or clock-hour program at a new school, that student is starting a
new payment period. For non-term programs, you must use the payment period rules described in/Volume 3, Chapter 1/to
determine the payment periods for the remainder of the student9s program.
However, for a transfer student, the length of the program is the number of clock or credit-hours and the number of weeks
of instructional time that the student will be required to complete in the new program. If the remaining clock or credit
hours/or weeks of instructional time/are half an academic year or less, then the remaining hours and weeks of instructional
time constitute one payment period.
Transfer Students and Remaining Eligibility
Consider a student who is eligible for Pell Grant funds and who transfers from School A to School B within the same award
year. Before paying any Pell funds to the student, School B must determine the percentage of eligibility remaining for the
student. After transferring, a student9s remaining eligibility for a Scheduled Award during an award year is equal to the
percentage of the student9s Scheduled Award that remains unused, multiplied by the student9s Scheduled Award at the
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new school.
School B may pay the student a Pell Grant only for that portion of an academic year in which the student is enrolled and in
attendance at School B. The grant must be adjusted, as necessary, to ensure that the funds received by the student for
the award year do not exceed the student9s Scheduled Award for that award year or the student9s maximum Lifetime
Eligibility Used.
The award for each payment period is calculated using the (full) Scheduled Award. The student receives a full award until
the student has received 100% of the student9s remaining eligibility for a Scheduled Award (or 150% if the student is
enrolled and otherwise eligible for a Year-Round Pell award) or 600% LEU. This avoids a school having to ration the
remaining amount by splitting it evenly across the remaining payment periods.
To calculate a transfer student9s remaining eligibility for a Scheduled Award, School B must first determine what
percentage of the Scheduled Award the student used at School A. Check COD for the most up-to-date information on what
aid has been disbursed to the student at all schools. The remainder is the unused percentage of the student9s Scheduled
Award4the percentage the student may receive at School B. (Use percentages rather than dollars because a transfer
student may have different Scheduled Awards at the two schools; using percentages rather than dollars adjusts for this
possible difference.) School B then multiplies the percent of eligibility remaining by the Scheduled Award at School B. The
result is the maximum amount of Federal Pell Grant funds the student may receive at School B during the balance of the
award year.
Pell Grant Eligibility for Transfer Students
34 CFR 690.65
Dear Colleague Letter GEN-01-09
Volume 7, Chapter 6, Example 1: Transfer Student Remaining Eligibility
On August 1, 2025, a student enrolls at School X. After completing a portion of the program, the student
withdraws from school. On February 1, 2026, the student enrolls at School Y as a transfer student and is awarded
400 clock hours of transfer credit toward School Y9s 1,000 clock-hour program (the program9s defined academic
year is 900 clock hours and 30 weeks of instructional time). The student9s program length at School Y is 600 clock-
hours and 20 weeks of instructional time.
The FAA at School Y examines the student9s 2025-26 ISIR and finds the following entry:
%Sch. Used: 112.5
As Of: 01/28/2026
Pell Eligible: Y
Based on the student9s FAFSA results, their Scheduled Award is $4,500. Since the student is eligible for Year-
Round Pell, the FAA subtracts the 112.5% of the student's Scheduled Award previously used from 150%, which
results in a remaining unused percentage of 37.5%. Therefore, the student is eligible to receive 37.5% of their
scheduled Pell award of $4,500 during the balance of the award year.
The FAA uses the 600 hours and 20 weeks of instructional time remaining in the student9s program to establish
the appropriate two payment periods of 300 clock-hours and 10 weeks of instructional time each (See Volume 3,
Chapter 1 for a full discussion on payment periods). The aid administrator multiplies the student's Scheduled
Award ($4,500) by the remaining unused percentage (37.5%) and determines that the student may receive as
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NSLDS Financial Aid History and Transfer Monitoring
Before disbursing
Title IV funds to a transfer student, you must obtain a financial aid history for the student and must
inform NSLDS about the transfer student so that you can receive updates through the Transfer Student Monitoring
Process. The financial aid history will identify Pell Grant disbursements that the student received at other schools, along
with Title IV defaults or overpayments, if the student has reached or exceeded the annual or aggregate loan limits, or if
the student has reached the Pell LEU limit. There are several ways for you to get a student9s financial aid history from
NSLDS. You can:
Use the NSLDS Financial Aid History section of the ISIR;
Log on to the NSLDS Professional Access website and access the data online for a student;
For multiple students, use the Financial Aid History Report (FAT001), which you submit from the Reports tab on the
NSLDS site (you retrieve the results through SAIG); or
Send a batch Transfer Student Monitoring/Financial Aid History (TSM/FAH) Inform file to request aid history data for
several students.
The <NSLDS Transfer Student Monitoring & Financial Aid History User Guide= provides instructions on how to use Transfer
Student Monitoring (TSM) online, how to request Financial Aid History (FAH), and the TSM/FAH Batch process. This
resource is published in the Knowledge Center Library in the "Publications by Resource Type" section under "NSLDS User
Resources."
If a student has not self-identified as a transfer student, data on the student9s ISIR can sometimes alert a school to the
fact that a student has already received a Pell Grant during the current award year. Schools should examine the Pell
payment data on the ISIR generated from the student9s most recent transaction to see if the percentage of the Scheduled
Award used for the award year is greater than 0. If the ISIR is the most recent and the percentage of the Scheduled Award
used for the award year is greater than zero, the school should request transfer monitoring of that student and wait until
it has received the results of that process through NSLDS before creating a Pell award for that student in the COD System.
Concurrent Enrollment and Pell Potential Overaward
When multiple schools report disbursements for a student and the enrollment dates reported are within 30 calendar days
of each other, the COD System identifies a potential concurrent enrollment and sends a warning message to all schools
involved. The COD System sends the school that submitted the second or subsequent disbursement information a
response document that contains warning edit 69. Warning edit 69 informs schools that submit second or subsequent
disbursement information that Pell disbursements for a student have been received from two or more schools and the
enrollment dates for the student are within 30 days of one another. The COD System also sends a multiple reporting
record (MRR) to all the schools with accepted disbursement information in the COD system for the student and the award
year. The MRR alerts the schools to a possible overlap in enrollment. The Department expects all schools involved to
cooperate in resolving the concurrent enrollment issue. To help facilitate resolution, the MRR contains the Pell contact
much as $1,687.50 if the student remains enrolled at School Y for the balance of the award year.
During the first payment period, the student receives $1,500 in Pell funds:
(300 hours in payment period x $4,500) ÷ 900 hours in academic year = $1,500
However, in the second payment period, the student can only receive funds until their total Pell at School Y
reaches $1,687.50 (and the student9s total for the award year reaches 150% their Scheduled Award amount of
$4,500). Therefore, for the second payment period at School Y, the student can only receive $187.50 ($1,687.50 3
$1,500 = $187.50).
Note that if the student received a Direct Loan at School X and now wishes to borrow a Direct Loan at School Y,
the method for determining the remaining eligibility for Direct Loan funds in transfer student situations is very
different from the method of determining remaining Pell Grant eligibility. Refer to
Volume 8 for a complete
discussion of this topic.
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information, as reported by the schools to the COD System, for the schools involved.
Pell Potential Overaward Process
A student may receive disbursements from more than one school during an award year. When more than one school
reports disbursements for a student, the COD System checks to make sure the student has not received more than 100%
(or 150% if qualifying under <Year-round= Pell) of the student9s eligibility for a Pell Grant.
If the COD System receives disbursement information that will cause a student to receive more than 100% (or 150% if
qualifying under <Year-round= Pell) of the student9s <total eligibility used= or TEU, the student has entered a potential
overaward (POP) situation. Remember, to certify eligibility for the <Year-round= Pell provision, the Additional Eligibility
Indicator (AEI) must be submitted for disbursements exceeding 100% of the Scheduled Award to be accepted in the COD
System.
The COD System will accept the disbursement and notify the schools involved in the POP in the following three ways:
COD sends the school that submitted the disbursement that caused the student to exceed the 100% (or 150% for
<Year-round= Pell) TEU for the year warning edit 68 in the response document.
Weekly, COD sends all schools that have accepted and posted disbursements for students in a POP status a Pell POP
report that will identify the student and schools involved.
COD sends all schools that have accepted and posted disbursements for the student in the award year an MRR
containing the Pell contact information for the schools involved.
Warning edit 68 informs the school that submitted the disbursement that caused the student to exceed the 100% (or
150% if qualifying under <Year-round= Pell) TEU for the year that:
Pell disbursements for a student have been received from two or more schools.
The student9s TEU is greater than 100.000% or 150.000% as applicable.
The POP situation must be resolved within 30 calendar days.
During the 30-day period, the Department expects each school involved in the potential overaward to review the
student9s award and disbursements and perform the proper eligibility calculations. The COD System will accept and post
disbursements that decrease or increase the student9s year-to-date disbursement amount. Students will be removed from
POP status within 30 days of the date the student was initially placed in the POP if the student9s TEU becomes 100% (or
150% for <Year-round= Pell) or below based on downward disbursement adjustments submitted by the schools. If after 30
calendar days the situation has not been resolved, the COD System generates a negative disbursement that reduces all
accepted and posted disbursements to $0 for the student in the award year in question at all schools involved. Schools
should document any phone calls, emails, and letters that were part of their attempts to resolve the POP with the student
and the other schools involved and be prepared to provide that documentation to COD School Relations, if requested.
Schools, along with the student, must work together to resolve the POP before contacting COD School
Relations for help. A school that has attempted to resolve an overaward situation with the other schools that have
submitted disbursement records for the student and has been unable to arrive at a satisfactory solution should call the
COD School Relations Center to request <escalated mediation=. The school should be prepared to provide the name and
social security number of the student involved. The COD School Relations Center will review the POP situation and, if
necessary, refer the case to the Department for additional action.
To prevent repeated POP situations from occurring, schools must:
ensure that students do not receive Pell awards for concurrent enrollment at two or more schools;
take action when they receive warning notices from the COD System; and
correct overaward situations prior to submitting subsequent disbursement records to COD.
Schools should remember that failure to comply with these requirements may call into question a school9s administrative
capability and fiscal responsibility and might eventually result in the Department taking action to limit, suspend, or
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terminate a school9s participation in the Title IV programs.
Regarding COD processing and POPs:
The COD System accepts disbursement information from a maximum of three schools for a student in a POP
situation.
The COD System does not prevent the same schools from creating another POP situation for the same student.
Schools do not need to request post-deadline processing (extended processing) to submit upward adjustment
records after the end of the processing year to correct a POP situation.
The COD System accepts downward adjustments to disbursement or award information at any time.
Disbursement information can be submitted via the COD website for those schools that do not wish, or are not able,
to reopen any software they may have used to process the affected award year.
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Chapter 7
Initial Calculations, Recalculations, and Overawards
Initial Pell Calculation
An initial calculation is the first calculation that is made on or after the date the school has received a Department-
produced SAI such as the student9s initial FAFSA Submission Summary or ISIR with an official SAI and a Pell Eligibility Flag
of <Y=. This may be from a FAFSA Submission Summary or ISIR, the FAFSA Partner Portal, or FAFSA.gov. The initial
calculation uses the student9s enrollment intensity at the time of the calculation. If you9ve estimated the student9s
eligibility before receiving a FAFSA Submission Summary or ISIR for the student, you must confirm prior estimated
eligibility or determine the student9s eligibility at the time you receive the FAFSA Submission Summary or ISIR.
If a school performs an initial calculation before a student has registered for specific classes, the school may rely on the
student9s general estimate of intended enrollment when performing the initial calculation. For example, a school could
perform an initial calculation using 50% enrollment intensity if a student indicated that they planned to enroll half time.
You should document the date you initially calculate a student9s Pell Grant, which can be no earlier than the date your
school received a Department-produced SAI. If you fail to document the date of the initial calculation, you must use the
later of:
The date the FAFSA Submission Summary or ISIR is first received and the student9s enrollment intensity as of that
date; or
The date the student enrolls.
Your school is considered to have received the ISIR on the date it was processed. This date is labeled <Processed Date= on
the ISIR. In the case of a FAFSA Submission Summary, your school is considered to have received it on the date processed
unless you document a later date. The processing date on a FAFSA Submission Summary is the date above the SAI.
Pell Recalculation Due to Change in SAI or Other Pell Eligibility Indicators
If the student9s SAI or one of the other Pell eligibility indicators change due to corrections, updates, or an adjustment, and
the change would alter the amount of the Pell award, you must recalculate the Pell award for the entire award year. In
addition to the SAI, these indicators include the Max Pell, Minimum Pell, CFH, or IASG indicators. If the student has
received more than their Scheduled Award amount due to the recalculation, then the student has received an
overpayment. In some cases, you may be able to adjust an award by reducing or canceling later payments to the student
(see Volume 4, Chapter 3 for more information).
A student selected for verification can be paid based on the corrected output document you receive during the
<verification extension= (120 days after the student9s last day of enrollment, or the deadline date established by a Federal
Register notice, whichever is earlier). For example, if you receive a reprocessed ISIR reflecting the results of the student9s
verification during the extension period and the ISIR has a lower SAI than the previous ISIR (increasing the student9s
eligibility), you calculate the student9s Pell Grant based on the reprocessed ISIR.
If you receive a FAFSA Submission Summary or ISIR with a SAI different from the one you used for the payment
calculation, you must first decide which document is valid. If the new information is the correct information, the new
FAFSA Submission Summary or ISIR is the valid record. In most cases, you must recalculate the student9s Pell award for
the entire award year based on the new SAI. For more information on FAFSA Submission Summaries, ISIRs, and SAI, see
the Application and Verification Guide.
Pell Recalculation 3 Change in SAI
34 CFR 690.80(a)
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Pell Recalculation Due to Change in Enrollment Intensity
The process for recalculating a student9s Pell Grant award due to changes in enrollment intensity depends on when the
change occurs.
Change in Enrollment Intensity
Between Academic Terms
In a credit-hour program that uses terms, you must calculate a student9s payment for each term based on the enrollment
intensity for that term. For example, if a student attended full time for the first term and then enrolled less than full time
in the second term, you must use the less-than-full-time enrollment intensity to calculate the student9s payment for the
second term.
Change in Enrollment Intensity
Within a Payment Period Before a Student Begins Attendance in All Classes
You must report changes to a student9s enrollment intensity to NSLDS in a timely manner. Any change requiring a
recalculation of an award may also require an update to the student9s enrollment intensity. If the student doesn9t begin
attendance in all classes for a payment period, resulting in a change in the student9s enrollment intensity, you must
recalculate the student9s award for that payment period based on the lower enrollment intensity. A student is considered
to have begun attendance in all classes if the student attends at least one day of each class whose credits are counted for
purposes of determining the student9s enrollment intensity for Pell Grant eligibility. Note that clock-hour and non-term
programs are always based on full-time enrollment intensity for Pell.
Your school must have a procedure in place to know whether a student has begun attendance in all classes for purposes
of the Pell Grant program. The Department does not dictate the method a school uses to document that a student has
begun attendance. However, a student is considered not to have begun attendance in any class in which the school is
unable to document that attendance.
If you recalculate a Pell award because the student9s enrollment intensity has changed, you must also consider any
changes in the student9s costs at that time. For example, if a student enrolls full time for the first semester and then drops
to less than half time during that semester, the student9s costs will change, because only certain cost components are
allowed for less-than-half-time students. However, the COA components for a less-than-half-time student must still be
based on the costs for a full-time student for a full academic year when calculating the student9s less-than-half-time
enrollment intensity and Pell Grant award.
Change in Enrollment Intensity
Within a Payment Period After a Student Has Begun Attendance in All Classes
Pell Recalculation 3 Change in Enrollment
34 CFR 690.80(b)
Volume 7, Chapter 7, Example 1: Enrollment Intensity Change Pell Recalculation
A student registers for a full-time course load (15 credit hours) and their school makes an initial disbursement on
that basis 10 days before the first term starts. When the term starts, the student only begins attendance in three
classes (9 credit hours). The school must recalculate the student9s Pell award based on the lower enrollment
intensity. Any difference between the amount the student received and the new recalculated award is an
overpayment for which the student is responsible. See Volume 4, Chapter 3 for more detail on overpayments.
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The regulations don9t require recalculation of Pell Grant awards based on changes in enrollment intensity during a
payment period after the student has begun attendance in all their classes. However, your school may have a
policy of recalculating awards in this situation. Your school9s recalculation policy must be documented in writing, must
consider any changes in the student9s COA, and must be applied consistently to all students in a program. If your school
chooses to recalculate for a student whose enrollment intensity increases, your school must also recalculate for a student
whose enrollment intensity decreases.
Your school9s policy may set a date after which Pell Grants will not be recalculated for enrollment intensity changes during
a payment period. This date is sometimes referred to as the "Pell recalculation date" or "PRD." For example, you could
establish a policy that you will recalculate Pell awards only for enrollment intensity changes that occur up to the
<add/drop= date of a term. If you establish a policy that Pell Grants will not be recalculated after a certain date, the policy
must be applied in all cases, even when there is compressed coursework.
Note that a school may establish more than one PRD within the same payment period. For example, if a term is divided
into two or more modules, a school could establish a PRD within each module. However, in this case only one PRD will
apply to a student, and that will be the PRD for the latest class or module in which the student begins attendance. Once
the school determines which PRD applies to the student, the school must go back to the beginning of the term and review
which courses the student dropped, added, or completed up until the student9s PRD to calculate the student9s Pell Grant
enrollment intensity.
If your school has a policy of recalculating Pell Grant awards for a student whose projected enrollment intensity has
changed as of your established PRD (if the student began attendance in all classes), and if the initial calculation of the
student's Pell Grant occurred before the recalculation date, the recalculation is based on the student's new enrollment
intensity as of the recalculation date.
In some cases, a student may not be enrolled in any classes as of a school's PRD, but the student enrolls later during the
payment period (for example, in the second module of a term). Since there is no Pell Grant enrollment intensity of "zero,"
in this circumstance the student remains Pell-eligible based on the initial Pell Grant calculation (if the student began
attendance in all classes on which the enrollment intensity for the initial calculation was based), and the recalculation is
based on the student's enrollment intensity at the time they begin enrollment later in the term.
The initial calculation of a student9s Pell Grant may in some cases occur after a school's PRD for a term, including a term
Volume 7, Chapter 7, Example 2: Multiple Pell Recalculation Dates
A school uses multiple Pell recalculation dates within a payment period and must recalculate Pell up to the Pell
recalculation date for the last class or module in which the student begins attendance. The fall semester is divided
into two modules. The school establishes one PRD in each module, and a third PRD for the full semester:
Module 1 PRD: September 7
Full Semester PRD: September 21
Module 2 PRD: November 1
As of the Full Semester PRD (September 21), a student had begun attendance in four classes (12 credit hours) for
the full semester.
On October 3, the student drops two classes (6 credit hours). On October 20, the student enrolls and begins
attendance in a 3-credit-hour class in Module 2. As of the Module 2 PRD (November 1), the student is enrolled for
and has begun attendance in nine credit hours.
In this example, the Module 2 PRD (November 1) applies to the student, so the student's final Pell Grant
enrollment intensity is based on 9 credits (9 ÷ 12 = 75%). If the student had not enrolled and begun attendance
in the class in Module 2, the Full Semester PRD (September 21) would apply, and the student's final Pell Grant
enrollment intensity would have been full time.
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with compressed coursework. In this circumstance, you must use the student9s effective enrollment intensity on the date
of the initial calculation, and there is no recalculation of the student9s Pell Grant for the term due to a subsequent change
in enrollment intensity, if the student began attendance in each class.
If the student9s payment for the term is being disbursed in a subsequent payment period, you may pay the student only
for the coursework completed in the term (including earned Fs). Additional information about retroactive payments is
available in Volume 4, Chapter 2.
In the case of programs offered with compressed coursework or modules within the terms, your school may adopt a policy
of setting the PRD based on the add/drop date of the last class in which the student is enrolled, or is expected to enroll,
for the term. In this circumstance, your school must consider all adjustments to the enrollment intensity, both increases
and decreases, up to the add/drop date of the last class in which the student begins attendance.
If you don9t establish a policy of recalculating based on changes in enrollment intensity that occur during a payment
period, a student who begins attendance in all classes would be paid based on the initial calculation, even if their
Volume 7, Chapter 7, Example 3: Enrollment Intensity Change Within the Payment Period
A student registers for 15 credit hours which is full time and 100% enrollment intensity. Their school initially
calculates a full-time award, based on its definition of full-time enrollment as 12 or more credits for financial aid
purposes. The student begins attending all classes but subsequently drops two classes (6 credits) bringing their
enrollment down to 9 credit hours, or 75% enrollment intensity. The school does not recalculate Pell Grant awards
based on enrollment intensity changes during a payment period, so the student may still be paid based on full-
time enrollment if the student is otherwise eligible for payment.
If the school did not receive the student9s first processed valid FAFSA Submission Summary or ISIR with an official
SAI until after the student dropped to 75% enrollment intensity, the Pell initial calculation would be based on the
student9s enrollment intensity at the time the school received the output document, which was 75%.
If the school had a policy of recalculating Pell Grant awards if a student9s enrollment intensity for a payment
period has changed as of a specified recalculation date, and if the student had dropped to 75% enrollment
intensity as of that date, the school would recalculate the student9s award based on 75% enrollment intensity.
Volume 7, Chapter 7, Example 4: Enrollment Intensity Change Between Payment Periods
A student registers for 15 credit hours, which is full time and 100% enrollment intensity because the institution
defines full-time enrollment as 12 or more credits for financial aid purposes. The school initially calculates a full-
time Pell Grant award for the fall and spring semesters. Each semester is divided into two 8-week modules that
are combined and treated as a single 16-week standard term. The student begins attendance in all classes in the
fall.
In the spring semester, the student is not enrolled in any classes during the first 8-week module or any classes
that span the entire 16-week semester. However, the student is enrolled in two 3-credit courses during the second
8-week module.
The school9s Pell Grant recalculation date for the spring semester is during the first 8-week module. Although the
student is not enrolled in any classes as of the recalculation date, their enrollment during the second module of
the semester allows them to be paid up to their original full-time enrollment status as determined by the initial
Pell Grant calculation. However, because the student is enrolled for only six hours in the second module, the
school pays the student at 50% enrollment intensity. No further adjustments to the student's award will be made
if there are subsequent enrollment intensity changes during the term.
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enrollment intensity changes before the disbursement is made. If the student withdraws from all classes (or doesn9t begin
attending any classes), you must follow the procedures discussed in Volume 5.
Pell Recalculation Due to Change in COA
When a student9s COA changes during the award year, and their enrollment intensity remains the same, you may (but are
not required to) establish a policy under which you recalculate the student9s Pell Grant award. Once established, you must
consistently apply such a recalculation policy to all students in the program.
Tuition and Fee Charges and Recalculation
If your school recalculates a student9s Pell Grant due to a change in enrollment intensity but continues to charge tuition
and fees for credit hours that are no longer included in the student9s enrollment intensity for Pell Grant purposes, this
does not affect the requirement to recalculate the student9s Pell Grant award.
For example, if a student enrolls as a full-time student with 12 credits, but never starts attendance in a 3-credit class that
starts after the school9s <add/drop= date, the student9s award must be recalculated based on 9 credits or 75% enrollment
intensity. This is true, even though the school charges tuition for any classes dropped after the <add/ drop= date, and
therefore continues to charge the student for 12 credits.
Recalculation of Pell Grant Awards for Students Who Graduate Early From a Clock-Hour Program
Under the regulations that govern the treatment of
Title IV funds when a student withdraws, a student who completes all
the requirements for graduation from a program before completing the days or hours they were scheduled to complete is
not considered to have withdrawn, and no return of Title IV funds calculation is required (see Volume 5 for more detail).
However, a school may be required to return a portion of the Pell Grant funds that were awarded to a student who
successfully completes the requirements for graduation from a clock-hour program before completing the number of clock
hours that they were scheduled to complete. Note that successfully completed clock hours may include a limited number
of clock hours for which the student was granted an excused absence if your school has an excused absence policy that
meets the requirements described in 34 CFR 668.4(e). For more information, see the discussion of "Excused absences in
clock-hour programs" in Volume 3, Chapter 1.
A student's eligibility to receive Title IV aid for a clock-hour program is based, in part, on the total number of clock hours
in the program. If a school allows a student to graduate from a clock-hour program without completing all the originally
established hours for the program, the school has effectively shortened the program length and reduced a student's Title
IV aid eligibility for the program. In this circumstance, the school must recalculate the student's Pell Grant award based on
the number of hours the student completed. The school must return to the Department the difference between the
recalculated award amount and the Pell Grant amount that the student originally received. (For a student who received a
Direct Loan, the school must also prorate the student's annual loan limit in this situation, or, if the loan limit was originally
subject to proration, recalculate the original prorated loan limit. See Volume 8 for more information.)
Volume 7, Chapter 7, Example 5: Pell Recalculation for Early Graduation From a Clock-Hour Program
Consider a student who enrolls in a 900 clock-hour program, with the academic year defined as 900 clock hours
and 26 weeks of instructional time. The school assumes that the student will complete 900 clock hours, and the
student9s Scheduled Award is $7,500, paid in disbursements of $3,750 in each payment period (see Chapter 1 of
Volume 3 for guidance on determining payment periods).
The school considers the student to have met the requirements for graduation from the program after the student
has completed only 750 of the originally scheduled 900 clock hours. As soon as practicable after determining that
the student will meet the graduation requirements, the school must recalculate the student's Pell Grant award as
if the student had been enrolled in a 750 clock-hour program. Although the school will recalculate the student's
award using Formula 4 (as described in Chapter 4), in this circumstance only the number of clock hours in the
payment periods are considered. There is no comparison of hours and weeks fractions, as is normally required
with Formula 4.
The school determines the recalculated award amount for each payment period by multiplying the student's
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The recalculation requirement described above applies only to clock-hour programs, and it applies regardless of the
length of the program or remaining portion of a program. For example, if a student who received Pell Grant funds for
enrollment in a 600 clock-hour program meets the graduation requirements after completing only 500 clock hours, the
student's Pell Grant award must be recalculated.
Overawards and Overpayments
A Pell Grant overaward exists when the award is greater than the amount for which the student is eligible. An overaward
only becomes an overpayment if a school cannot correct the overaward before all funds are disbursed to the student.
A correctly determined Pell Grant, based on eligibility criteria described in Chapter 2, is never adjusted to account for
other forms of aid. Therefore, if a student9s aid package exceeds his or her need, you must attempt to eliminate the
overaward by reducing other
Title IV aid or other aid your school controls. You may not reduce a student9s correctly
awarded and disbursed Pell Grant to address overpayments in other programs.
If a student received more Pell Grant funds than they were eligible for because their eligibility for the grant decreased,
you can try to eliminate the overpayment by adjusting later disbursements for the award year. Additionally, a Pell Grant
awarded to an ineligible student or based on an incorrect enrollment intensity greater than that for which the student is
enrolled is an overaward. See Volume 4, Chapter 3 for additional guidance on resolving overawards.
Pell Grant Overawards
A Pell Grant overaward can be caused by a school making an error in determining Pell Grant eligibility. For example, the
school may use the wrong SAI or fail to limit the award by the student9s COA. A Pell Grant overaward can also result if the
student enters incorrect data on the FAFSA form and the SAI derived from the incorrect data is lower than it should be (for
more detail about the FAFSA form and SAI data, see the
Application and Verification Guide). A Pell overaward also exists if
a student scheduled to receive a Pell Grant fails to begin classes or is otherwise determined to be ineligible for Title IV
Funds (for example, having exceeded the Pell LEU). Finally, an overaward exists whenever a student is scheduled to
receive or is receiving a Pell Grant for attendance at two or more schools concurrently. All these Pell Grant overawards
must be corrected.
This is not an exclusive list of all the ways in which a Pell Grant may be overawarded. In addition to avoiding these
mistakes, schools should also be sure to submit timely Pell actual disbursement records to COD, according to the Annual
Deadline Date Notice as published in the Knowledge Center.
$7,500 Pell Grant award by 375 (the number of clock hours in each payment period based on the total of 750
hours that the student completed), then dividing the result by 900 (the number of clock hours in the program's
academic year). This results in two recalculated disbursements of $3,125 each, for a total award of $6,250. The
school reduces the original first and second disbursements by $625, then returns the total difference of $1,250 to
the Department. Note that the school 3 not the student 3 is responsible for returning the excess Pell Grant funds in
this situation.
Note: It is possible for a correctly awarded Pell Grant to exceed the student9s financial need. For example, a
student9s SAI may exceed their COA, but the student may still qualify for a Minimum Pell Grant, based on that set
of eligibility criteria. Further, a student may be eligible for a Max Pell Grant under the Special Rule regardless of
their SAI. In these situations, the correctly determined Pell Grant is not considered an overaward, but the student
is not eligible for any other need-based Title IV aid. See Volume 3, Chapter 3 for additional packaging guidance.
Liability For and Recovery of Pell Grant Overpaymen ts
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End of preview. Expand
in Data Studio
Federal Student Aid Document Loader Dataset
This dataset demonstrates document loading and processing techniques using LangChain's document loaders in an educational pipeline. It contains processed pages from official Federal Student Aid handbooks for the 2025-26 processing year.
Dataset Details
Dataset Description
This dataset contains 269 processed document pages extracted from four Federal Student Aid handbook volumes using LangChain's PyPDFDirectoryLoader. Each record includes the extracted text content and comprehensive metadata about the source document and processing pipeline.
The dataset serves as an educational example of:
Document loading with LangChain
Workflow orchestration with Prefect
Metadata standardization across document sources
Preparation for RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) systems
Curated by: Educational demonstration project (dwb2023)
Language(s): English
License: MIT
Source Documents: Federal Student Aid Handbooks 2025-26
Dataset Sources
- Repository: langchain-dataset-loaders
- Original Documents: Federal Student Aid Partner Connect Knowledge Center
- Processing Pipeline: LangChain + Prefect orchestration example
- Related Tutorial: Document Loader Pipeline Guide
Uses
Direct Use
This dataset is designed for educational purposes to demonstrate:
Document Processing Pipelines
- Learning LangChain document loader patterns
- Understanding metadata enrichment
- Practicing document chunking and retrieval
RAG System Development
- Building question-answering systems over financial aid documentation
- Creating semantic search applications
- Developing document intelligence tools
Educational Research
- Studying federal student aid policies and procedures
- Analyzing government document structure
- Understanding financial aid eligibility requirements
Out-of-Scope Use
- Not for production financial aid decisions - Use official FSA sources for actual student aid determinations
- Not for legal advice - Consult official regulations and qualified professionals
- Not for current academic year processing - This dataset reflects 2025-26 guidelines which may be outdated
Dataset Structure
Each record contains two main fields:
page_content(string): Extracted text content from PDF pages (277-5,300 characters)metadata_json(string): JSON-formatted metadata including:- Source file information (
source,total_pages,page,page_label) - Processing details (
loader_type,load_timestamp) - Document creation metadata (
producer,creator,creationdate,moddate)
- Source file information (
Example Record
{
"page_content": "Volume 7 The Federal Pell Grant Program Introduction This volume of the Federal Student Aid Handbook provides information to assist schools in determining student eligibility...",
"metadata_json": "{\"producer\": \"GPL Ghostscript 10.00.0\", \"creator\": \"wkhtmltopdf 0.12.6\", \"source\": \"data/raw/The_Federal_Pell_Grant_Program.pdf\", \"total_pages\": 65, \"page\": 0, \"loader_type\": \"pdf\", \"load_timestamp\": \"2025-07-03T15:05:37.091391\"}"
}
Dataset Creation
Curation Rationale
This dataset was created to provide a realistic, domain-specific example for learning document processing techniques. Federal Student Aid handbooks were chosen because they:
- Represent real-world government documents with complex formatting
- Contain structured information suitable for Q&A applications
- Provide educational value about financial aid processes
- Demonstrate handling of large, multi-volume document sets
Source Data
Data Collection and Processing
The dataset was created using a LangChain + Prefect pipeline with the following steps:
Source Documents: Four PDF volumes from the Federal Student Aid Handbook 2025-26:
- Volume 3: Applications and Verification Guide
- Volume 6: Academic Calendars, Cost of Attendance and Packaging
- Volume 7: The Federal Pell Grant Program
- Volume 8: The Direct Loan Program
Processing Pipeline:
- PyPDFDirectoryLoader for PDF text extraction
- Metadata enrichment with source tracking
- Timestamp recording for provenance
- JSON serialization for storage
Quality Assurance:
- Validation of extracted content length
- Metadata consistency checks
- Source file verification
Who are the source data producers?
- Original Authors: U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid
- Document Type: Official federal government handbooks and guidance
- Publication Year: 2025-26 processing year
- Processing: Educational demonstration project
Personal and Sensitive Information
The source documents are public federal guidance materials that do not contain personal information. The dataset includes:
- Public Policy Information: Federal student aid regulations and procedures
- No Personal Data: No student records, SSNs, or individual information
- No Sensitive Content: Standard government procedural documentation
Bias, Risks, and Limitations
Technical Limitations
- Processing Year: Reflects 2025-26 guidelines which may become outdated
- Extraction Accuracy: PDF text extraction may contain formatting artifacts
- Scope: Limited to four handbook volumes, not comprehensive FSA guidance
- Language: English-only content
Content Considerations
- Policy Changes: Federal student aid policies evolve; this represents a snapshot
- Interpretation: Documents reflect official policy but may require expert interpretation
- Completeness: Does not include all FSA guidance documents or updates
Recommendations
Users should:
- Verify current regulations when using for research
- Understand this is educational data, not authoritative guidance
- Consider potential extraction errors when analyzing content
- Use official FSA sources for actual student aid decisions
Educational Value
This dataset demonstrates:
Document Processing Concepts
- LangChain Integration: Practical use of document loaders
- Metadata Management: Systematic tracking of document provenance
- Workflow Orchestration: Using Prefect for pipeline management
Real-World Applications
- Government Document Processing: Handling official publications
- RAG System Development: Preparing documents for retrieval systems
- Text Analytics: Analyzing structured government content
Citation
APA: dwb2023. (2025). Federal Student Aid Document Loader Dataset [Data set]. Hugging Face. https://huggingface.co/datasets/dwb2023/document-loader-jul2025
BibTeX:
@dataset{dwb2023_federal_student_aid_2025,
title={Federal Student Aid Document Loader Dataset},
author={dwb2023},
year={2025},
publisher={Hugging Face},
url={https://huggingface.co/datasets/dwb2023/document-loader-jul2025}
}
More Information
Related Resources
Learning Path
- Explore the source repository
- Run the document loading pipeline
- Experiment with RAG applications using this dataset
- Extend to other document types and sources
Dataset Card Authors
Primary: Educational demonstration project (dwb2023) Contributors: LangChain + Prefect learning community
Dataset Card Contact
For questions about this educational dataset or the document loading pipeline, please refer to the source repository issues.
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