Financial Aid

Financial Aid Handbook & Policies

Federal Pell Grant

Your award letter includes an estimated Federal Pell Grant if you appear to be eligible. Any correction made to your FAFSA could change the financial aid eligibility stated in your award letter. To receive a Pell Grant, eligible students must meet Satisfactory Progress Requirements and not have received a bachelor's degree. The Pell Grant will not pay for graduate, some retake or audit courses, or deleted courses if the charges are also deleted.

The amount of Federal Pell Grant funds a student may receive over his or her lifetime is limited to the equivalent of six years of Pell Grant funding. Since the maximum amount of Pell Grant funding a student can receive each year is equal to 100%, the six-year equivalent is 600%. Additional information on calculating Pell lifetime eligibility used may be found at Student Aid on the Web.

Federal regulations pertaining to the Pell Grant program allow eligible students to receive:

  • 100% awards if enrolled full-time (12 or more enrolled hours)
  • 75% awards if enrolled three-quarter-time (9-11 enrolled hours)
  • 50% awards if enrolled half-time (6-8 enrolled hours)
  • Partial awards for some eligible students enrolled less-than-half-time (1-5 enrolled hours)

The Pell Grant will not pay for courses dropped before or added after the certification date. The certification date is either 1) the 10th day of the semester, or 2) the date of the processed FAFSA application used for initial Pell payment, whichever is later.

Students who withdraw from or do not earn credit for a course for which they have received a Pell Grant award may be required to return Pell funds if they did not begin coursework or did not attend class.