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Federal Pell Grant Eligibility for Two Awards in One Year

Your federal Pell grant eligibility may be used for up to 200% of your award value in one year.

If you are a college freshman (or higher) and wish to enroll for summer courses, you may qualify for a second Pell grant.

Summer college tuition assistance helps Pell students in two ways: You get student loan debt help by lowering the amount you have to borrow to get your degree quickly, and you can get your career started faster by graduating sooner.

Although smaller Pell grant amounts are given to students who are enrolled less than half-time during the year, to be eligible for a summer award you must be taking at least six credits.

Summer Federal Pell Grant Eligibility Rules

You must already have completed your first award year (fall and spring). Graduating high school seniors are not eligible.

At least 24 credits have to be earned between the fall and spring semester of the prior year.

Your Pell grant application or FAFSA must be completed for whichever award year you will receive payment for.

Some of the credits you enroll for in the summer, must be ones which can apply to your next academic year.

No AP, IB or lifetime experience credits can be used to qualify you for a summer Pell grant.

The U.S. Department of Education allows exceptions to be made for special circumstances that would prevent a student from completing the required credit hours during the first award period. These circumstances would be situations that were beyond the student's control- for example:

illness
required courses not offered in the semester

Summer Federal Pell Grant Eligibility Benefits

Any student who meets Pell grant qualifications for the first award and is eligible for the second must be given this money by their school if they wish to take summer courses.

Any payment period that includes both the dates of June 30 and July 1, is considered to be a "crossover period" and the award can come from either the preceding year or the next year. Schools must assign the award from whichever year gives the most money to the student.

If a student's Pell grant form for next year has a different EFC number, or if award amounts are increased and this shows that the summer Pell was assigned to the lesser paying year, the school must change the payment and rebate the amount.

Of course this works both ways. If your Pell grant eligibility changes because you have not met the academic Pell grant requirements your second award will have to be adjusted.

Transfer students are eligible for a second award too, even if their first year award was used at a different school. Qualifying credits will be based on the amount of the award given at the first school. This means that the summer Pell grant is still what it is supposed to be- portable financial aid that belongs to the student, not to a particular school.

If there is a remaining portion of your first award for the year that has not been paid out and you are eligible for a second award, they will be paid out together. You can use the Pell grant calculator to find out what the amount of your award should be. (These federal Pell awards have been recalculated for 2010-2011.)

Some more tuition funding information you might need...

Borrow money quick

Fafsa renewal

State student loan forgiveness programs

Federal Pell grant eligibility for a second award within the school year is hugely useful for nontraditional students. It helps save time and money, the two things that cause hesitation when making the decision to go back to school.

federal Pell grant eligibility to Pell grant main page

federal Pell grant eligibility to college loan consultant homepage