Calculating Pell Grants

The section discusses how Pell Grants are calculated and includes example calculations.

Note:

The system can award two Pell Grants consecutively by term, First Pell (Pell1) and Second Pell (Pell2), to eligible students in a single aid year. As part of the Pell Eligibility Calculation (PEC), the system determines a student's Maximum (Max) Scheduled Award and uses this value to determine maximum Pell eligibility for the aid year. The system does not consider and does not award Pell2 until the student has been awarded Pell1 in the amount of his or her Max Scheduled Award.

Note:

The system does not attempt to calculate a Pell Grant award for a student who has neither a federal nor an institutional application for the applicable aid year in the system. However, the system does attempt to calculate a Pell Grant award for a student who has an institutional application, but no federal application, for the applicable aid year in the system.

Step 1

The first step for Packaging (Manual Packaging, Auto Packaging, Repackaging, Mass Packaging, or Batch Repackaging) to calculate a student's Pell Grant award is to determine the Pell Eligibility Calculation (PEC) setup values to use. Because PEC setup defaults can be at the program, career, or installation level and can be overridden at the student level, Packaging checks for defaults in the following order to ensure that the proper aid processing rules are used:

  1. Student override values.

  2. Aid processing rule set associated with the student's program.

  3. Aid processing rule set associated with the student's career.

  4. Installation defaults specified on the Financial Aid Defaults page

Once PEC values are detected, the checking for defaults is done and those values are used.

Step 2

The second step is to compare the current (system) date to the term start date (earliest session start date) and the financial aid census date. After identifying the current date in relation to these dates, Packaging uses this date to determine which PEC Pell formula and enrollment values to use (Pell Calculation Start, Pell Calculation Midterm, or Pell Calculation Census).

Step 3

The third step is to determine the percentage of the student’s Max Scheduled Award of Pell Grant award that has been used.

Once the Max Scheduled Award has been established, the system calculates the student's remaining Pell eligibility by using both the student's Percent Scheduled Used and, for the 2013 aid year and beyond, the Lifetime Eligibility Used fields. Both fields are displayed on the Aggregate Aid Data page and are populated by the NSLDS Data Push process. The pushed values can be manually overridden.

Note:

You must regularly push NSLDS data to the Aggregate Tables in order for Packaging to calculate accurately the student's remaining Pell eligibility.

Note:

As of the 2013 aid year, the NSLDS Aggregate Push routine updates the Pell Aggregate Area for the 2013 aid year and beyond with the NSLDS Pell Lifetime Eligibility Used percentage value reported on either a Financial Aid History File or Transfer Student Monitoring data file. Excluded from this value is any current year NSLDS Pell transaction that matches any internally awarded Pell Grants based on school code match. Therefore, to ensure that the most current and accurate Pell Lifetime Eligibility Used value is evaluated, you should regularly load and push NSLDS data sourced from the NSLDS Financial Aid History or Transfer Student Monitoring data file.

To calculate the student's remaining Pell Grant eligibility, the system uses the lower percentage of (a) Lifetime Eligibility Maximum percent minus the student's Lifetime Eligibility Used percent and (b) First Pell Percentage minus the student's Percent Scheduled Used value. The lower of these two percentages is applied to the Max Scheduled Award.

Access the Aggregate Aid Data page (Financial Aid, and then Awards, and then Aggregates, and then Update Incoming Aggregates, and then Aggregate Aid Data).

Note:

For a complete description of the Aggregate Aid Data page: See Updating Aggregate Aid Information.

Field or Control Description

Percent Scheduled Used and Override

Displays the percentage of a student's Pell Grant Maximum (Max) Scheduled Award used at prior institutions from NSLDS or, if overridden, manually populated by the user. Valid values are 000.0 to 150.0. The field can exceed 100.0 when a student has received the Max Scheduled Award for first Pell Grant (Pell1) plus a partial or Max Scheduled Award for second Pell Grant (Pell2) at prior institutions. Packaging always uses the Percent Scheduled Used as part of its Pell eligibility determination regardless of the designated Aggregate Source (NSLDS or PS).

Select the Override check box and manually enter a value to override Percent Scheduled Used.

Total % Used

Displays the sum of Percent Scheduled Used and the percent of Pell Grant awards already packaged by the system for the aid year. Valid values are 000.0 to 150.0.

Note: The system uses these internal fields (not displayed on any pages) to calculate Total % Used: Max Scheduled Award (full-time, full-year Pell Grant award based on Pell COA and EFC), student's remaining Pell Grant eligibility, and Max Scheduled Award minus the lesser of Lifetime Eligibility Used or Percent Scheduled Used.

Lifetime Eligibility Used and Override

Displays the percentage of a student's Pell Grant received over his or her lifetime as reported from NSLDS or, if overridden, manually populated by the user. Valid values are 0000.0000 to 9999.9999. This field is populated by the Aggregate Push routine.

Select the Override check box and manually enter a value to override.

Lifetime Eligibility Used is evaluated against the corresponding Pell Aggregate Aid Limit, Lifetime Eligibility Maximum Percent setup value as one of the factors when determining a Pell Grant award.

See Creating Aggregate Aid Limits.

Note:

Pell Grant eligibility always uses NSLDS aggregate values.

Step 4

The fourth step is to use the identified Pell Grant formula with the appropriate Pell Grant Payment Schedule based on the enrollment load value, the student's Maximum Scheduled Award, the appropriate weeks of instruction or Pell Number of Terms, and the student's Total Percent Used (of Pell) to calculate the Pell Grant award term by term.

The Packaging routine repeats this process for each term in the student's academic program, and adds the individual term amounts to determine the student's annual Pell Grant award.

Pell Grant Formula Examples

The next four sections provide of examples of the Pell Formula calculations supported by the system:

  • Formula 1 — FA Load

  • Formula 1 — Full-Time

  • Formula 3 — FA Load

  • Formula 3 — Current Load

  • Formula 3 — Full-time

See Defining Pell Eligibility Calculation (PEC) Setup.

Formula 1 — FA Load

The system divides the Pell Grant award by the Pell Number of Terms. It uses the student's FA Load value for each term to determine which Pell Grant schedule to use.

Pell COA = 5000.00 USD

EFC =02350

Max Scheduled Award: 3000.00 USD

Pell Number of Terms: 2

Summer: Leading

FA Load Term 1: 3/4 (Summer Term)

FA Load Term 2: 3/4

FA Load Term 3: 3/4

Annual Award: 3000.00 USD

Term 1 Actual Award: 2250.00 USD / 2 = 1125.00 USD

Term 2 Actual Award: 2250.00 USD / 2 = 1125.00 USD

Term 3 Actual Award: 750.00

The Term 3 Actual Award is calculated like this: (2250.00 USD / by 2 = 1125.00 USD, THEN reduced to remaining eligibility: 3000.00 USD (Annual Award) minus 2250.00 USD (combined Term 1 and Term 2 Actual Awards) equals 750.00 USD.

Formula 1 - Full-Time

The system divides the Max Scheduled Award (full-time, full-year) by the Pell Number of Terms.

Pell COA = 5000.00 USD

EFC = 02350

Max Scheduled Award: 3000.00 USD

Pell Number of Terms: 2

Summer: Trailing

FA Load Term 1: FT (Summer Term)

FA Load Term 2: FT

FA Load Term 3: FT

Annual Award: 3000.00 USD

Term 1 Actual Award: 3000.00 USD / 2 = 1500.00 USD

Term 2 Actual Award: 3000.00 USD / 2 = 1500.00 USD

Term 3 Actual Award: 0.00 USD

Student used entire Max Scheduled Award in Terms 1 and 2, leaving no remaining eligibility for Term 3.

Formula 3 - FA Load

The system sums the Academic and Non-Standard Base Weeks to determine the length of the Academic Program's Weeks of Instruction. This value serves as the denominator in the percentage calculation for a student's number of enrolled weeks in a term. Formula 3 — FA Load uses the FA Load from FA Term to determine which Federal Pell Grant disbursement schedule to use when it is calculating the student's eligibility. The FA Load value uses the number of financial aid eligible units in which the student is enrolled for the term to determine the student's load.

Pell COA = 5000.00 USD

EFC = 02350

Max Scheduled Award: 3000.00 USD

Base Weeks Academic + Non-standard = 34

Term 1 Weeks in Term = 12

Term 2 Weeks in Term = 10

Term 3 Weeks in Term = 12 (Non-standard/Summer)

FA Load Term 1: 3/4 (Summer Term)

FA Load Term 2: FT

FA Load Term 3: FT

Term 1 Actual Award: 12 / 34 x 2250.00 USD = 794.03 USD

Term 1 Actual Award: 10 / 34 x 3000.00 USD = 882.30 USD

Term 1 Actual Award: 12 / 34 x 3000.00 USD = 1058.70 USD

Annual Award: 2735.03

Term 1 disb: 794.03 USD

Term2 disb: 882.30 USD

Term 3 disb: 1058.70 USD

Formula 3 - Current Load

The system sums the Academic and Non-Standard Base Weeks to determine the length of the Academic Program's Weeks of Instruction. This value serves as the denominator in the percentage calculation for a student's number of enrolled weeks in a term. Formula 3 — Current Load uses the Current Load from FA Term to determine which Federal Pell Grant disbursement schedule to use when it is calculating the student's eligibility. The Current Load value uses the number of units that the student is currently enrolled in (Financial Aid, Financial Aid Term, Maintain Student FA Term, Statistics tab, Session Detail box, In Progress field) plus the number of units from completed sessions in the term to determine the student's load for the term.

Pell COA = 5000.00 USD

EFC = 02350

Max Scheduled Award: 3000.00 USD

Base Weeks Academic + Non-standard = 34

Term 1 Weeks in Term = 12

Term 2 Weeks in Term = 10

Term 3 Weeks in Term = 12 (Non-standard/Summer)

FA Load Term 1: HT (Summer Term)

FA Load Term 2: 3/4

FA Load Term 3: HT

Term 1 Actual Award: 12 / 34 x 1500.00 USD = 529.35 USD

Term 2 Actual Award: 10 / 34 x 2250.00 USD = 661.73 USD

Term 3 Actual Award: 12 / 34 x 1500.00 USD = 529.35 USD

Annual Award: 1,720.43

Term 1 disb: 529.35 USD

Term 2 disb: 661.73 USD

Term 3 disb: 529.35 USD

Formula 3 - Full-time Load

The system sums the Academic and Non-Standard Base Weeks to determine the length of the Academic Program's Weeks of Instruction. This value serves as the denominator in the percentage calculation for a student's number of enrolled weeks in a term. Formula 3 — Full—time Load uses Full-time as the FA Load Value to determine which Federal Pell Grant disbursement schedule to use when it is calculating the student's eligibility.

Pell COA = 5000.00 USD

EFC = 02350

Max Scheduled Award: 3000.00 USD

Base Weeks Academic + Non-standard = 36

Term 1 Weeks in Term = 12

Term 2 Weeks in Term = 10

Term 3 Weeks in Term = 12 (Non-standard/Summer)

Ignore student's actual enrollment and use Full-time Load for all terms

Term 1 Actual Award: 12 / 36 x 3000.00 USD = 1000.00 USD

Term 2 Actual Award: 10 / 36 x 3000.00 USD = 833.33 USD

Term 3 Actual Award: 12 / 36 x 3000.00 USD = 1000.00 USD

Annual Award: 2833.33 USD

Lifetime Eligibility Used Examples

Beginning the 2013 aid year, a student may receive a maximum of 6 years of Pell Grant awards over the course of pursuing an undergraduate degree. This is measured by a cumulative percentage of disbursed Lifetime Pell Grant awards (represented as Lifetime Eligibility Used, up to 600 percent).

When evaluating Lifetime Eligibility Used, Packaging always reviews the relationship between (annual) Percent Scheduled Used value and the Lifetime Eligibility Used Percent and awards the lesser of the two values. This is to ensure that the system does not overaward the student a Pell Grant from either an annual limit perspective or a lifetime limit perspective.

Example 1

  1. Student's remaining Percent Scheduled Used is 50 percent (Pell1 maximum of 100 percent minus 50 Percent Scheduled Used equals a delta of 50 percent).

  2. Student's remaining Lifetime Eligibility is 75 percent (Lifetime Eligibility Percent Maximum of 600 percent minus 525 percent Lifetime Eligibility Used equals a delta of 75 percent).

  3. Packaging compares the two percentages (50 Percent remaining Scheduled Used versus 75 Percent remaining Lifetime Eligibility) and uses the lower of the two percentages (50 percent) times the Max Scheduled Award (adjusted for FA Load) to determine the Pell Grant award.

Example 2

  1. Student's remaining Percent Scheduled Used is 50 percent (Pell1 maximum of 100 percent minus 50 Percent Scheduled Used equals a delta of 50 percent).

  2. Student's remaining Lifetime Eligibility is 25 percent (Lifetime Eligibility Percent Maximum of 600 percent minus 575 percent Lifetime Eligibility Used equals a delta of 25 percent).

  3. Packaging compares the two percentages (50 Percent remaining Scheduled Used versus 25 Percent remaining Lifetime Eligibility) and uses the lower of the two percentages (25 percent) times the Max Scheduled Award to determine the Pell Grant award.

Pell Grant Disbursement Rounding Examples

Financial aid award disbursement amounts, including Pell Grants, are determined in part by the Rounding Option selected in Financial Aid Item Type setup. For complete information on Financial Aid Item Type setup:

See Defining Financial Aid Item Types.

If the Financial Aid Item Type Rounding Option attribute equals None, then no rounding takes place, and Pell Grant award disbursement amounts are in U.S. dollars and cents. If the Rounding Option attribute does not equal None, then the following Pell Rounding Rules are applied regardless of the settings of Rounding Option, Round Direction, or Award Remainder Rule.

  • If the number of terms is even, the system alternately rounds term amounts up or down based on how the first term amount is rounded and disregards the decimal amount for all other terms. For example:

    If the first term decimal amount is equal to or greater than .50 USD, then the first term amount is rounded up, and all remaining terms follow a rounding treatment of down, up, down, etc. regardless of their decimal amounts.

    If the first term decimal amount is less than .50 USD, then the first term amount is rounded down, and all remaining terms follow a rounding treatment of up, down, up, etc. regardless of their decimal amounts.

    Example 1: Formula 1, two terms, Full-time student, Even Term Rounding

    Term 1 Full-time 2775.00 USD/2 = 1387.50 USD – Round up to 1388.00 USD

    Term 2 Full-time 2775.00 USD/2 = 1387.50 USD – Round down to USD 1387.00 USD

    Total Award = 2775.00 USD

    Example 2: Formula 1, four terms, Full-time student, Even Term Rounding

    Term 1 Full-time 2650.00 USD/4 = 662.50 USD – Round up to 663.00 USD

    Term 2 Full-time 2650.00 USD/4 = 662.50 USD – Round down to 662.00 USD

    Term 3 Full-time 2650.00 USD/4 = 662.50 USD – Round up to 663.00 USD

    Term 4 Full-time 2650.00 USD/4 = 662.50 USD – Round down to 662.00 USD

    Total Award = 2650.00 USD

    Example 3: Formula 3, four terms, Mixed-load student, Even Term Rounding

    Term 1 (8–weeks) Half-time (1038.00 USD x 8)/30 weeks = 276.80 USD – Round up to 277.00 USD

    Term 2 (8–weeks) Half-time (1038.00 USD x 8)/30 weeks = 276.80 USD – Round down to 276.00 USD

    Term 3 (8–weeks) Full-time (2075.00 USD x 8)/30 weeks = 553.33 USD – Round up to 554.00 USD

    Term 4 (8–weeks) Full-time (2075.00 USD x 8)/30 weeks = 553.33 USD – Round down to 553.00 USD

    Total Award = 1660.00 USD

    Note:

    For Example 3, note that for Term 2, the disbursement is rounded down even though cents are greater than or equal to .50 USD. Also, note for Term 3, the disbursement is rounded up even though the cents are less than .50 USD

  • If the number of terms is three, the system rounds to one direction, up or down, for the first two terms, and to the other direction for the third term. Whether the system initially rounds up or down for the first two terms depends on the decimal amount of the first term only; it disregards the decimal amount for the third term and rounds up or down based on the first two terms.

    If the first term decimal amount is equal to or greater than .50 USD, then the first term amount is rounded up, the second term amount is rounded up, and the third term amount is rounded down.

    If the first term decimal amount is less than .50 USD, then the first term amount is rounded down, the second term amount is rounded down, and the third term amount is rounded up.

    Example 4: Formula 1, three terms, Full-time student, Three-term Rounding

    Term 1 Full-time 4700.00 USD/3 = 1566.66 USD – Round up to 1567.00 USD

    Term 2 Full-time 4700.00 USD/3 = 1566.66 USD – Round up to 1567.00 USD

    Term 3 Full-time 4700.00 USD/3 = 1566.66 USD – Round down to 1566.00 USD

    Total Award = 4700.00 USD

    Example 5: Formula 1, three terms, Full-time student, Three-term Rounding

    Term 1 Full-time 2200.00 USD/3 = 733.33 USD – Round down to 733.00 USD

    Term 2 Full-time 2200.00 USD/3 = 733.33 USD – Round down to 733.00 USD

    Term 3 Full-time 2200.00 USD/3 = 733.33 USD – Round up to 734.00 USD

    Total Award = 2200.00 USD

  • When determining the rounding methodology, the system only includes terms where the scheduled disbursement's decimal amount is greater than zero to determine whether there is an even number of terms or not. In other words, terms with a scheduled disbursement amount ending in whole dollars are not considered part of the term count when assessing terms eligible for rounding.

    Example 6: Formula 1, two terms, Mixed-load student, One-term Rounding (only one term has a decimal amount greater than .00).

    Term 1 Full-time 2075.00 USD/2 = 1037.50 USD – Round up to 1038.00 USD

    Term 2 Half-time 1038.00 USD/2 = 519.00 USD – No rounding needed, 519.00 USD

    Total Award = 1557.00 USD

    Example 7: Formula 1, four terms, Mixed-load student, Three-term Rounding (three terms have decimal amounts greater than .00).

    Term 1 Less-than-half-time 1325.00 USD/3 = 441.67 USD – Round up to 442.00 USD

    Term 2 Three-quarter-time 3975.00 USD/3 = 1325.00 USD – No rounding needed, 1325.00 USD

    Term 3 Full-time 5300.00 USD/3 = 1766.66 USD – Round up to 1767.00 USD

    Term 4 Full-time 5300.00 USD/3 = 1766.66 USD – Round down to 1766.00 USD

    Total Award = 5300.00 USD

  • Disbursement protection is not used with Pell Grant awards. The system disregards the disbursement protection attribute of the Financial Aid Item Type setup for Pell Grant item types and always recalculates the Pell Grant award and scheduled disbursements without regard to what has been originated or disbursed.

    If the originated or disbursed amount exceeds the revised calculation by 1.00 USD (for example, the disbursed amount = 1367.00 USD and the revised calculation amount = 1366.00 USD), the disbursement process takes 1.00 USD back, and you should consider a change origination with Common Origination and Disbursement for the recalculated, lesser amount.

    If the originated or disbursed amount is less than the revised calculation by 1.00 USD (for example, the disbursed amount = 1127.00 USD and the revised calculation amount = 1128.00 USD), the disbursement process disburses an additional 1.00 USD for the term. You should consider a change origination with Common Origination and Disbursement for the recalculated, greater amount.

    If the originated or disbursed amount contained cents and the revised calculation no longer contains cents (for example, the disbursed amount = 333.33 USD and the revised calculation amount = 333.00 USD), in order for the total Pell Grant award (sum of all scheduled disbursements) to result in whole dollars, you should either: (a) turn rounding off at the Pell Grant item type level so subsequent disbursements contain cents, (b) perform a custom split to reflect cents in subsequent disbursement terms, or (c) handle cents through professional judgment. If you choose option (a) and you have already disbursed your Pell amounts with cents, you should consider continuing to award in dollars and cents (Pell Item Type Rounding Option = None) for the duration of the award year.

Pell Grant Point–in–Time Examples

This section provides examples of how a Pell Grant can be calculated differently based on the PEC setup and different points in time in relation to the term start date:

  • Before term start date

  • Mid-term prior to term census date

  • On or after term census date

A student attends a semester-based institution, and is an undergraduate in the liberal arts academic program. Neither the student's program nor career have defaults that differ from the installation defaults. The student's annual Pell COA is 5450.00 USD and the primary EFC is 00154; resulting in a Max Scheduled Award of 5,200.00 USD. The Pell Number of Terms is 2. According to the Federal Pell Grant Schedule, the student receives an annual award of 5200.00 USD if enrolled full-time, an annual award of 3900.00 USD if enrolled three-quarter time, and an annual award of 2600.00 USD if enrolled half-time.

The student is first awarded a Pell Grant on March 1, 2009. To calculate the student's Pell Grant amount, the Packaging routine first determines whether PEC setup values exist at the student override level and then the academic program level for the student. After the routine determines that no aid processing rule set is attached to the liberal arts academic program, it checks for career level defaults. Because no aid processing rule set is assigned to the undergraduate career, it uses the installation defaults. The Pell calculation fields on the Financial Aid Defaults page have the following values:

Field Value

Pell Calculation Start

Formula 1 — Full-time

Pell Calculation Midterm

Formula 1 — Full-time

Pell Calculation Census

Formula 1 — FA Load

Packaging compares the current date (March 1, 2009) against the term start date and census date to determine which enrollment value to use when calculating the student's Pell Grant:

Term Term Start Date FA Census Date

Fall

09/17/09

10/20/09

Spring

01/23/10

03/10/10

Because the system date is before the term start date for both semesters, Packaging uses the Pell Calculation Start value for enrollment, Formula 1 Full-time. The student's Pell Grant award is 5200.00 USD for the aid year, with a term amount of 2600.00 USD for each term.

The following table shows how the student's Pell Grant award changes as you recalculate the student's Pell Grant eligibility at different points in the aid year. The student's current FA Load value after the census date is three-quarter time in fall and is half-time in spring.

Current Date Pell Calculation Field Used - Fall Load Fall Pell Award Amt Pell Calculation Field Used - Spring Load Spring Pell Award Amt Total Pell Award

03/01/09

Pell Calculation Start

Formula 1 — Full-time

Full Time

2600.00 USD

Pell Calculation Start

Formula 1 — Full-time

Full Time

2600.00 USD

5200.00 USD

09/20/09

Pell Calculation Mid-term

Formula 1 — Full-time

Full Time

2600.00 USD

Pell Calculation Start

Formula 1 — Full-time

Full Time

2600.00 USD

5200.00 USD

10/25/09

Pell Calculation Census

Formula 1 — FA Load

3/4 Time

1950.00 USD

Pell Calculation Start

Formula 1 — Full-time

Full Time

2600.00 USD

4550.00 USD

01/30/10

Pell Calculation Census

Formula 1 — FA Load

3/4 Time

1950.00 USD

Pell Calculation Start

Formula 1 — Full-time

Full Time

2600.00 USD

4550.00 USD

03/25/10

Pell Calculation Census

Formula 1 — FA Load

3/4 Time

1950.00 USD

Pell Calculation Census

Formula 1 — FA Load

Half Time

1300.00 USD

3250.00 USD

See Defining Pell Eligibility Calculation (PEC) Setup.

Pell Grants for Non-standard Terms and Two Pell Grants in an Aid Year Examples

To support Leading or Trailing Summer terms, the system can package a Pell Grant across both Academic and Non-Standard award periods. You should consider carefully the Disbursement Plan/Split Code being used to award Pell1 and Pell2. The system uses Disbursement Plans to determine for which terms to consider the student's Pell eligibility, but it does not use the Split Code nor Split Code Formulas as part of its distribution spread determination. Instead, the system uses either (a) Pell Number of Terms or (b) Academic plus Non-Standard Base Weeks to determine each term's award amount and how the award is spread across the enrolled terms.

Note:

Although not used for Pell Grant awarding, the system still requires that you specify default Split Code and Split Code Formula values so that the fields are populated. These values are not used to distribute the Pell award into scheduled disbursements.

If your institution intends to award Pell Grants in either the Leading or Trailing Summer, you need to create Disbursement Plans that encompass all terms in which the student may receive a Pell Grant.

If the Academic Program supports a Leading Summer term, create a new Disbursement Plan like this:

  • Semester-based: Leading Summer, Fall, Spring

  • Quarter-based: Leading Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring

Example:

  • Leading Summer Term: 2960.00 USD

  • Fall Term: 2960.00 USD

  • Spring Term: 0.00 USD

If the Academic Program supports a Trailing Summer term, create a new Disbursement Plan like this:

  • Semester-based: Fall, Spring, Trailing Summer

  • Quarter-based: Fall, Winter, Spring, Trailing Summer

Example:

  • Fall Term: 2675.00 USD

  • Spring Term: 2675.00 USD

  • Trailing Summer Term: 0.00 USD

If the Academic Program supports both Leading and Trailing Summer terms, create a new Disbursement Plan like this:

  • Semester-based: Leading Summer, Fall, Spring, Trailing Summer

  • Quarter-based: Leading Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, Trailing Summer

Similar to awarding Leading or Trailing Summer terms, if you intend to award a Pell2 award in the succeeding term following a Pell1 award, you should use the same Disbursement Plan/Split Code pattern for both awards. Inherent logic in the system ensures that, based on the Disbursement Plan/Split Code being used, Packaging inserts a Pell2 award in the next available term following a Pell1 award.

Example — Leading Summer:

  • Leading Summer Term: 2960.00 USD (Pell1)

  • Fall Term: 2960.00 USD (Pell1)

  • Spring Term: 2960.00 USD (Pell2)

Example — Trailing Summer:

  • Fall Term: 2960.00 USD (Pell1)

  • Spring Term: 2960.00 USD (Pell1)

  • Trailing Summer Term: 2960.00 USD (Pell2)

The system awards Pell1 and Pell2 in consecutive terms up to the maximum Pell eligibility based on the student's enrollment for that term. For purposes of this example, the student:

  • has an Incoming Aggregates Percentage of 50 percent, which leaves a remaining Pell1 eligibility of 2,960.

  • is Half-Time for the Fall Term – scheduled max award of 2,960 /2 = 1,480.

  • is Full-Time for the Spring Term – scheduled max of 5,920 / 2 = 2,960

  • is Full-Time for the Trailing Summer Term – scheduled max of 5,920 / 2 = 2,960

Example — Pell1 and Pell2 in consecutive terms:

  • Leading Summer Term: 0.00 USD (No Enrollment)

  • Fall Term: 1480.00 USD of Pell1 (based on the student's scheduled max award for that term's enrollment.)

  • Spring Term: 2960.00 USD of Pell2 awarded based on student's enrollment for term under Year Round Pell. Enrollment for this term pushes student over 100% and is awarded as Pell2.

  • Trailing Summer Term: 1480.00 USD of Pell2 (student is enrolled Full-time however is awarded remainder of Pell eligibility up to 150% of SFPG under Year Round Pell).

  • Student receives both a 1480.00 USD Pell1 and a 4440.00 USD Pell2 for the award year.

Pell Grant Packaging Error Messages

The following table lists and explains possible Pell Grant Packaging error messages:

Message Number Message Text

9022

PELL -Invalid Title IV eligibility indicator

9023

PELL - Not Title IV eligible

9026

PELL -Invalid NSLDS level

9027

PELL -Student is not an undergraduate, not PELL eligible

9033

PELL -Student has Bachelors degree, not PELL eligible

9136

Student Base Weeks or term count found to be 0 during PELL calculation

9148

PELL award cannot be assigned; there is no matching disbursement for term

9149

Not PELL eligible based on combination PELL Index and PELL COA

9150

Invalid FA Load Code; Must have a value of 'F', 'T', 'H', 'L' or 'N'

9151

Item Type, Term, Aggregate, and/or Plan limits are less than PELL award

9152

PELL Index (Federal EFC) exceeds PELL Index maximum

9161

Student Enrollment Weeks (or terms) total exceeds Base Weeks (or term count).

9185

Calculated PELL award exceeds aggregate eligibility; award rejected.

9214

Not Pell Eligible: The Student is a Graduate Student

9234

For 2010, Pell Calculation Start, Midterm and Census date entries are invalid

9236

Not eligible for 2nd Pell award since 1st Pell award was not awarded at 100%

9237

Not eligible for 2nd Pell award; disbursement terms overlap with 1st Pell award

9238

Ineligible for Pell award; Lifetime Eligibility Percentage has been reached.

9239

Pell award has been reduced by student's remaining Lifetime Eligibility.

9405

PELL award reduced by Aggregate limits

9244

Regular Pell Disbursement Schedules have not been loaded into the system for this Aid Year. Therefore, an estimated award is assigned using the previous Aid Year’s Regular Pell Disbursement Schedule.

9249

Alternate Pell Disbursement Schedules have not been loaded into the system for this Aid Year. Therefore, an estimated award is assigned using the previous Aid Year’s Alternate Pell Disbursement Schedule.

9251

No Pell Awarded in Crossover Term.

9253

Not eligible for an Additional Pell due to an ineligible FA Load.

9254

Not eligible for Pell grant due to cumulative load exceeding 100%.