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Pell Grant Requirements After the Free Grant Applications

Pell grant requirements don't end when you submit the Pell grant application form or after its been accepted, or even when your tuition is paid.

If you don't want to be searching for wacky scholarships or drowning in college loan debt, you must make satisfactory academic progress (SAP).

Compared to government student loan program requirements, Pell standards are easier.

Pell grant amounts will be reduced if your enrollment status changes because you are not taking the number of credits required. But the grant is not completely revoked- just reduced.

The Pell grant calculator can tell you by how much.

If you end up owing excess grant money, it must be paid back before your next Pell grant form is submitted.

Your school sets the standards by which you maintain your eligibility.

You have to be enrolled as a regular student in a degree or certificate program and meet whatever standards your school says are acceptable to stay in that program. And there are stricter requirements if you want to use your federal Pell grant eligibility to receive two awards in one school year.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

In any program that is longer than 2 years, you must have a "C" (or 2.0) average by the end of the second year or have the academic standing that will allow you to graduate.

If you fail to meet this standard because of illness or other special circumstances, you can appeal when your financial aid is canceled. Your school has the power to grant your appeal.

A program that is less than two years must have comparable standards.

This year, new regulations have required that a student's academic progress must be reviewed twice a year, instead of once. This review will occur after the fall and spring semesters.

These new Pell grant requirements are causing students who have accumulated more credits than allowed, to have their awards canceled (often with little notice). So, it is important to be aware that these grants do not go on indefinitely.

Included in your SAP grade average are:

courses that were dropped after the official drop/add deadline passed

courses that were later repeated

remedial courses

ESL courses

Satisfactory academic progress is also measured by the length of time needed for students to complete their degree requirements.

In order to maintain your Pell grant qualifications, you must be on track to complete your degree without taking more than 150% of the time your school says is needed to do so.

So, for a degree that takes 120 credit hours, you can only get awards for 180 attempted credit hours.

You can get awards for remedial courses as long as you are:

admitted into a degree program first

taking courses your school says is necessary to your degree (even if they are taken before any regular courses)

only taking up to 30 credit hours of remedial coursework

If you transfer, your SAP grades will include any credits from your previous school that apply towards a degree in your new school. This makes sense because of what a Pell grant is- a mobile grant which belongs to the student, not the school.

If your Pell grant application is denied because you are not making satisfactory academic progress, you have the right to appeal. By granting an appeal, your school is suspending its progress standards. Usually the school will set a probationary period- at the end of which you must again be meeting the Pell grant requirements.

Pell grant requirements also say that students who received their first award on or after July 1, 2008, may only get up to nine awards in total.

Also, with the passage of SAFRA, federal Pell grant awards have been recalculated, so you may get a different amount than before.

Pell grant requirements should be considered when you make decisions about which courses to take, how many credit hours to carry and whether or not you drop or repeat courses.

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