<p>Hey guys, just wondering how the Pell Grant works. Does it work differently per school? When do they normally disburse, beginning or after a quarter? Should I expect to see it on the bill for my fall quarter?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>Pell is credited to your account by the school. By “disburse”, do you mean when will it be refunded to you if you have an overpayment on your account? That differs by school, but your school probably has a refund schedule posted on their FA site or you can stop by and ask. You might have to fill out a refund request.</p>
<p>Yes, it probably varies by school.</p>
<p>At both my kid’s schools the Pell and most other FA such as other grants, loans, and merit based scholarships for the semester, are credited to the bursar’s account at the beginning of the semester and tuition and fees etc are charged to the account. If the charges exceed the credits then we owe the school money. If the credits exceed the charges they refund the difference to the student. The timing is different at their schools. At my daughter’s school they refund at the end of the add/drop period which is 2 weeks after school starts. At my son’s school it is 5-6 weeks into the semester. I have read earlier and later timing on posts on CC.</p>
<p>Its disbursed to the college on a semester/quarter basis. Basically, if your school is in trad semester system (TSS), you will get half of your Pell Grant for Winter Semester and the remaining halves for Fall Semester. Same with Stafford Loan and other forms of financial aid. Institutional aid varies, and any supplements on the aid programme will be directed to you via the information available within the website provisioned to the school’s website financial’s aid office.</p>
<p>You may not actually see your grant on your bill. Some schools will put expected aid on the bill, but others do not. If you will owe more than your expected aid, subtract the expected aid from your bill when determining the amount to pay. Stafford loans will pay at 99.5% of the semester amount (due to loan fees). If you take fewer than 12 credits, your Pell will prorate (other loans may also prorate).</p>