Pell Grant Total Availability Questions

Hi everyone,

I am glad to find this site. I am rushing to try to register for the Spring 2017 Semester and I am not very well prepared as I have been out of school for 15+ years. I qualify for pell grants and I am considering taking only part time hours for the first semester to work my way back in. My question is, will this penalize me in what money is available in the long run. If part time funding counts almost as much toward lifetime cap as full time does, then I should buckle down and try to go full time from the get go. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Well…your issue is that you won’t receive a FULL Pell grant amount if you aren’t attending full time.

I see. But what is the penalty there. I mean, can I still get just as many classes from my available funds just spread out in more semesters?

@kelsmom what is the limit on using Pell funds for part time? I know that for full time, the limit is 12 semesters.

This poster wonders…can he get 1/2 Pell for 24 semesters??

Pell eligibility is not actually semesters … it’s % used. It’s based on your usage for the year, but basically: In a single semester, 1-3 credits=6.25%; 4-5 credits=12.5%; 6-8 credits=25%; 9-11 credits=37.5%; 12 credits or more=50%. You can monitor your Pell % usage by logging into your account at www.nslds.ed.gov.