Federal Pell Grant Eligibility for Two Awards in One Year

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 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 Pell grant amount 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 and these amounts should stay the same for 2011-2012, as long as the program is fully funded.)


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