Defining Pell Eligibility Calculation (PEC) Setup

Defining PEC at the Institution Level

Access the Financial Aid Defaults page (Set Up SACR, and then Install, and then Financial Aid Installation, and then Financial Aid Defaults).

Because the values you enter on this page are used as installation level defaults, they should be the values you want to use for most of your undergraduate programs.

Note:

For a complete description of this page: See Establishing Defaults.

Field or Control	Description
Academic Base Weeks	Enter the number of weeks that define your institution's Academic Award Period (AAP). Several financial aid processes use this value to calculate eligibility and to calculate prorated expected family contribution (EFC). Valid values are 0.0 to 99.9.
Non-Standard Base Weeks	Enter the number of weeks that define your institution's Non-Standard Award Period (NSAP). Several financial aid processes use this value to calculate eligibility and to calculate prorated EFCs. Non-standard terms are usually summer terms or inter-sessions. Valid values are 0.0 to 99.9.
Pell 3 Academic Weeks Only	Select so the Pell Grant calculation uses only Academic Base Weeks as the Academic Program's Weeks of Instruction for Formula 3. If not selected, the Pell Grant calculation sums the Academic Base Weeks and Non-Standard Base Weeks together to determine the Academic Program's Weeks of Instruction. Note: An Academic Program's Weeks of Instruction serves as the denominator in the percentage calculation for a student's number of enrolled weeks in a term when calculating Pell Grant eligibility for Formula 3 — FA Load, Formula 3 — Current Load, and Formula 3 — Full-time Load.
Pell Calculation Start	Enter the calculation mode to use for Pell calculations made before the student's academic term start date: Formula 1 — FA Load: Directs the Pell calculation to divide the Pell Grant by the Pell Number of Terms and uses the student's actual FA Load for each term. Formula 1 — Full-time: Directs the Pell calculation to divide the Scheduled Pell Grant by the Pell Number of Terms and uses full-time as the student's FA Load for each term. Formula 3 — Current Load: Directs the Pell calculation to sum the Academic Base Weeks and Non-Standard Base Weeks values to determine an Academic Program's Weeks of Instruction. This value serves as the denominator in the percentage calculation for student's number of enrolled weeks in a term. This mode uses the Current Load value from Financial Aid Term to determine which Federal Pell Grant schedule to use when it is calculating the student's eligibility for a Pell Grant. The Current Load value uses the number of units in which a student is currently enrolled ("In Progress" from the Financial Aid Term Session Detail) plus the number of units from completed sessions in the term to determine the student's load for the term. Formula 3 — FA Load: Directs the Pell calculation to sum the Academic Base Weeks and Non-Standard Base Weeks values to determine an 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. This mode uses the FA Load value from Financial Aid Term to determine which Federal Pell Grant 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. Formula 3 — Full-time Load: Directs the Pell calculation to sum the Academic Base Weeks and Non-Standard Base Weeks values to determine an 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. This mode uses Full-time as the FA Load value when it is calculating the student's eligibility.
Pell Calculation Midterm	Enter the load value to use for Pell Grant calculations made on or after the student's academic term start date but before the student's term census date. The available values match those for Pell Calculation Start.
Pell Calculation Census	Enter the load value to use for Pell Grant calculations made on or after the student's term census date. The available values match those for Pell Calculation Start.
Pell Number of Terms	Enter the number of terms that define the Academic Program. Although this value should match the TERM_TYPE on the ACAD_CAR_TBL, there is no automatic cross-check between the two to ensure that these values correlate. Packaging uses this value to distribute a Pell Grant across the student's enrolled terms when making a Pell Grant calculation using Formula 1 - FA Load or Formula 1 - Full-time Pell calculation values. If you select Formula 1 - FA Load or Formula 1 - Full-time, you must populate the Pell Number of Terms field. Valid values are 0 to 99.
Use PELL Crossover Logic	Select this check box if you want the system to a check the summer/crossover term to determine if a Pell Grant award for that term would be higher if it is awarded using the Additional Pell Item Type for the current Aid Year (e.g. Aid Year 2018) or the Initial Pell Item Type in the forward Aid Year (e.g. Aid Year 2019). If selected and the award would be higher for the forward Aid Year, the system awards zero Pell Grant for the summer/crossover term under the Additional Pell item type the current Aid Year. If the Pell Grant award for the summer/crossover term is higher using the current Aid Year, it will award the amount as Additional Pell. If not selected, the system awards Pell Grant for the summer/crossover term as Additional Pell in the current Aid Year without additional checks against the forward Aid Year.

Overriding PEC at the Career Level

Access the Aid Processing Rule Setup page (Set Up SACR, and then Product Related, and then Financial Aid, and then Aid Year, and then Aid Processing Rule Setup) and the Valid Careers for Aid Year page (Set Up SACR, and then Product Related, and then Financial Aid, and then Aid Year, and then Valid Careers for Aid Year).

Note:

For a complete description of the Aid Processing Rule Setup page: See Creating Aid Processing Rule Sets.

Note:

For a complete description of the Valid Careers for Aid Year page: See Listing Valid Careers for the Aid Year.

For careers that require a different PEC setup than specified on the Financial Aid Defaults page, create an aid processing rule set with the required PEC setup for those careers. You create aid processing rule sets on the Aid Processing Rule Setup page; the fields for PEC setup on this page correspond to those on the Financial Aid Defaults page. Then you assign aid processing rule sets on the Valid Careers for Aid Year page to only those careers that need a PEC setup that differs from the installation level default. If two careers require the same PEC setup (which differs from the installation level default setup), create only one aid processing rule set and select it for each career.

Note:

You do not need to create an aid processing rule set for every career. You do not need to assign an aid processing rule set to every career on the Valid Careers for Aid Year page. If you do not specify an aid processing rule set on the Valid Careers for Aid Year page, the Packaging routine uses the installation defaults for PEC.

For example, you may want to create an aid processing rule set for a career where the Base Weeks of Instruction is greater or less than the Base Weeks of instruction at the installation default level. On the Aid Processing Rule Setup page, you would specify the values for the weeks of instruction in the Academic Base Weeks and Non-Standard Base Weeks fields for these careers. Fill out all fields in the aid processing rule set.

Overriding PEC at the Program Level

Access the Aid Processing Rule Setup page (Set Up SACR, and then Product Related, and then Financial Aid, and then Aid Year, and then Aid Processing Rule Setup) and the Valid Programs for Aid Year and Career page (Set Up SACR, and then Product Related, and then Financial Aid, and then Aid Year, and then Valid Programs for Aid Year).

Note:

For a complete description of the Aid Processing Rule Setup page: See Creating Aid Processing Rule Sets.

Note:

For a complete description of the Valid Programs for Aid Year and Career page: See Defining Valid Programs for Aid Year and Career.

For academic programs that require a different PEC setup than specified at the career or installation level, create an aid processing rule set with the required PEC setup; the fields for PEC setup on this page correspond to those on the Financial Aid Defaults page. Then you assign aid processing rule sets to only those academic programs that require a PEC setup different from the career or installation level default on the Valid Programs for Aid Year page. If two academic programs require the same PEC setup, create only one aid processing rule set and assign it to both academic programs.

For programs, the Pell number of terms that you enter on the Aid Processing Rule Setup page must match the Pell number of terms at the career level.

Note:

You do not need to create an aid processing rule set for every career/program combination. You do not need to enter every program on the Valid Programs for Aid Year page. If you do not specify an aid processing rule set on the Valid Programs for Aid Year page, the Packaging routine uses the career or installation level defaults for PEC. For example, if an Academic Program supports a Leading Summer term, you want to create a unique PEC that distinguishes it from an Academic Program that does not support a Summer Term

Overriding PEC at the Student Level

Access a student's Pell Calculation Eligibility Student Override page (Financial Aid, and then View Packaging Status Summary) and click on the Pell Calculation Override link after querying a student.

Note:

For a complete description of the Pell Calculation Eligibility Student Override page: See Overriding Pell Eligibility Calculation Setup Values.

Field or Control	Description
Status	Select Active to override the PEC setup at the FA installation, career, or program level. The override applies to all terms and all Pell Grant awards across award periods. Select Inactive to use the PEC setup at FA installation, career, or program level.

Field or Control

Description

Status

Select Active to override the PEC setup at the FA installation, career, or program level. The override applies to all terms and all Pell Grant awards across award periods.

Select Inactive to use the PEC setup at FA installation, career, or program level.

The other fields for PEC setup on this page correspond to those on the Financial Aid Defaults page.

Note:

In the Pell calculation fields, if you select Formula 1 - FA Load or Formula 1 - Full-time, you must populate the Pell Number of Terms field. If you select Formula 3 - FA Load, Formula 3 - Current Load, or Formula 3 — Full-time Load, you must populate the Academic or Non-Standard Base Weeks fields.