Pell: It’s Complicated! Ashley Munro, University of Alaska Fairbanks

History of Pell Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) created in 1972 Renamed for Senator Claiborne Pell in 1980 Congressional Appropriations 1980-2007 College Cost Reduction and Access Act 2008-2011 Year Round Pell 2010 Peak of $35.8 Billion 2017 Year Round Pell Part II BEOG: Basic Educational Opportunity Grant was created in 1972 in response to the Higher Education Act of 1965. The BEOG would become the “floor” of financial aid funding, allowing for low and middle income students to build on top with loans and other grants. In 1980, BEOG was renamed the Pell Grant in honor of Senator Claiborne Pell (a Democrat from Rhode Island), who proposed the grant. Pre 2007: Funding came from congressional appropriations, made yearly. These are based on estimates. Some years, there is a shortfall, others there is a surplus. In either case, the funds per student remain the same. In years of shortfall, ED would borrow money from a subsequent year and Congress would later appropriate the money. In 2007, Congress passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which provides a new structure with supplemental funding. This provided 10 years of mandatory funding. In 2010, additional cost saving measures occurred and that money was placed into the Pell program.

Future of Pell Trump administration wants to use $3.9 Billion pell surplus to fund other strategies, one of which for a NASA moon mission.

What makes Pell complicated? Eligibility Issues Lifetime Eligibility Usage Recalculations Year-round Pell

Eligibility Issues

SAP Eligibility Can a school award a Federal Pell Grant for the entire academic year if a student regains SAP eligibility after the end of the fall term? If a student does not meet SAP requirements at the beginning of the payment period, you cannot pay any Title IV aid (including Pell) for that payment period, even if eligibility is regained at the end of that payment period. This means that the student would need to meet SAP requirements at the beginning of the payment period, or have an approved appeal. With that being said…   There is no regulations on retroactive SAP appeals. An institution does not have a deadline to approve an appeal for that completed payment period. However, the school would need to base the decision on the student’s situation BEFORE that fall term. The student doing well in fall cannot be the basis of the appeal decision to retroactively approve the appeal and award aid.

Graduation Eligibility Can a school pay a Pell Grant if the student graduated at the end of fall and is enrolled in the spring as a graduate student? Yes. As long as the student is still enrolled at the institution for the award year, you can make a retroactive Pell Grant payment for the fall term, even if the ISIR wasn’t received until the spring term. However, you can only pay a Pell grant for the courses the student completed during the fall term.

Graduation Eligibility Follow Up Question: Can a school pay a Pell Grant if the student graduated at the end of fall and is NOT enrolled in the spring? Yes, but you must follow late disbursement rules.

Prior Degrees Is there any resolution required for the Pell Grant awarded to a student for the last two years who already had a bachelor’s degree? A student appealed to the financial aid office for more aid. During that process, the school discovered that the student previously earned a bachelor’s degree. The school knows that they need to return the Pell Grant funds for the current award year, however, the school has paid the grant for TWO years because the student indicated he was a first time undergraduate on the FAFSA for two aid years. Yes. There is an overpayment due to errors during the previous away years, which must be resolved. Corrections must be made and the funds must be returned, even though the award years are closed.

Transfer Students A student initially began fall semester at one school and withdrew a few days after Pell was disbursed. R2T4 determined student can keep partial Pell. Student transfers to your institution. Can you pay Pell? Yes. If the student withdrew and is not attending both institutions at the same time, you can pay pell from two different institutions. BUT, you cannot exceed 100% (or 150%) and LEU.

Lifetime Eligibility Usage

Dollars and Cents Should schools round a student’s Federal Pell Grant award if his or her remaining LEU is less than a scheduled award? It depends. Schools must submit Pell awards for students who are close to using their lifetime eligibility as close as possible to remaining eligibility. COD accepts cents, so you can report payments in cents. But will your system allow you? What is your school’s policy? Round down if you do! Lets look at an example.

Tolerance Is a school required to return funds if a student is over his Pell LEU even by less than 1%? Yes. There is no tolerance for awarding a student above LEU.

Appeals Is there an appeal process for Pell LEU? Yes, but the student or school only can appeal to dispute the accuracy of the student’s Federal Pell Grant data that resulted in the student’s LEU level in the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System.

Recalculations

Census Date If a student registers for more courses after the census date, can we recalculate the Federal Pell Grant based on new enrollment status? No. If an initial Federal Pell Grant calculation was performed prior to the Pell recalculation date (PRD), often referred to as census date, any enrollment adjustments made after that date would not prompt a recalculation of the student’s Federal Pell Grant.

Modules One Pell Recalculation Date for Full Period Adds or withdrawals after do not prompt recalculation, unless not initiating attendance One Pell Recalculation Date Per Module One PRD applies to each student PRD is based on last class in which the student enrolls

F Grades A student enrolled in 12 credits and was paid Pell for full time enrollment. The student received F grades in 6 credits. Are we required to recalculate Pell? It depends. Did the student initiate attendance in the 6 credits. If the student never initiated attendance, a recalculation is required. If he did start attendance and if the school has a recalculation date, whether or not the student was still attending the 6 credits on that date would determine the need to recalculate the Pell.

Year Round Pell

Drop Below Half Time Does a student lose year-round Pell Grant if he drops below half time during the payment period? It depends. If there is no Pell recalculation date, the student would not lose pell amount. If there is a Pell recalculation date, and the course was dropped before that date, the student is no longer eligible. Regardless of the above, the student must begin attendance in enough classes to establish half-time enrollment.

Best Practices How does your school award Year Round Pell? How do you communicate Year Round Pell to your students?

Discussion

Your Ideal Pell What rules would you make? What one limit would you eliminate? Realistically, what amount would you award per student?

Ashley Munro akmunro@Alaska.edu Thank You! Ashley Munro akmunro@Alaska.edu