My school is allowed this summer to award half of the Pell Grant full amount for a regular year.
My full Pell for 2017-18 was the max of $5920.
The summer aid application said half would be awarded even if the full amount has been used in the previous year.
So…I am taking the required 6 hours to be considered for aid and thought I’d get half of $5920, which is $2960.
Nope. I was offered $1480 in Pell and $1000 in another Grant, which totals $2480. My Summer amount due for 6 hours is $2047. 2480-2047= $433 refund into my bank account.
I used my max loan amounts for fall and spring, so grants are all I can be offered…but why can’t I receive the full Pell amount the summer aid app said could be offered, which is half of my full year Pell: $2960.
I need more money for a refund after my balance is paid. My COA for Summer 2018 is listed as $4789.
Even when I was enrolled for 9 hours, I was only offered $2220 for Pell, when what the school is able to offer me over summer is what they say they can offer: HALF of my 2017-2018 FULL PELL AMOUNT of $5920, which is $2960.
I’m curious as to why they’re not giving me what they’re saying they can offer. Why not give me $2960 instead of $1480 for 6 hours or $2220 for 9 hours?
Am I able to request that they give me the amount they’re saying they can give out for Pell? I need money to live on and I’ve always been able to have a liveable refund the last two summers.
Here’s the school’s summer Pell Grant statement:
BEGINNING SUMMER 2018 - If you have used 100% of your Pell Grant eligibility during the Fall 2017/Spring 2018 semesters, an additional 50% of your Annual Scheduled Pell Award may be used if you are enrolled at least half-time (6.0 credits undergrad) during summer 2018. The additional award supplements any remaining eligibility from fall/spring, it does not replace it.
“an additional 50% of your Annual Scheduled Pell Award may be used if you are enrolled at least half-time (6.0 credits undergrad) during summer 2018.”
The wording is that’s 50% may be used if enrolled AT LEAST 6 hours. If what you’re saying is true, shouldn’t it be said that 50% may be used if enrolled FULL TIME at 12 hours?
Welcome to the world of government-speak. While your interpretation may seem logical, what that statement means is you are eligible for nothing if enrolled under half time, not that you get a full semester’s Pell award for being half time.
That is NOT what it says. If says you can get up to 50% of the annual amount if you take at least 6 credits, or are at least a half time student. If you go full time you’d get the full $2960, half time, half… If you only took 6 credits in the fall or spring you’d only get the $1480 too.
I’ll take 12 hours, have a balance of $4057 and an award amount of $2960 in Pell and $1000 of another grant, since they’re not offereing anything else. Then I’ll drop from 12 to 6 hours right before the $3960 disburses, so my balance will be $2047 and the aid disbursement of $3960 will pay the $2047, which’ll leave me with a refund of $1913 that I’ll have to pay back the excess of over the summer.
Good luck. It doesn’t work that way. The aid won’t disburse for $3960 because you won’t have that on your bill on that day. If you drop too late, you may have to pay back both the Pell amount and pay the university for the class.
Why play games? You may be risking your fall enrollment if you have an outstanding balance.
Showme- you cannot register, drop, and count on the refund. You could end up needing to pay back the excess Pell grant AND a penalty for a late drop to the university and be further in the hole. Plus- you will run out of financial aid to pay tuition down the road and won’t have anymore Pell left, no degree.
Play it straight. Register for the classes you intend to finish. Get a job to cover what the Pell won’t cover. Go semester by semester.
You can’t imagine the number of students who have used up all their aid and still don’t have a college degree. And then what?
It will depend on how fast the computers are at your school. My daughter dropped a class and added another the same day. Somehow the added class didn’t process immediately but the dropped class did. Her school charges by the credit, so I received a refund of $1555 (and it was deposited into my checking account) and she was billed $1555 the next day for the new class. I only noticed this because the refund hit my checking account. I was ‘finished’ checking her online billing and would have had a late charge for the added class if I didn’t pay that amount immediately. I called and asked why this happened and was told it was because it was a Wednesday. All credit are issued on Wednesdays, so because the dropped class was recorded on the Wed but the added class wasn’t, the system issued a refund.
I think they require the classes to be dropped before you are issued the FA the next day just so the FA won’t be issued in excess.
Pell is a Federal program. Colleges do not want to play games with the Pell program, because when they get audited, they need to be able to show that the money (coming from us, the taxpayers) was used as it was intended to be used. Students do not want to play games with the Pell program, because if they use up all their money before finishing a degree, then what? And, y’know- fraud and all that.
If you have the funds to pay back the overage at the end of the summer, then take the summer off from classes, get a fulltime job, and go in to the Fall semester with money in the bank- no?
Twoinanddone: Where did you read that it said “UP TO” 50%? I pasted in what the FAO said…and nowhere does it say UP TO. It specifically says “50% may be used if you’re at least at 6 hours (half-time).”
Blossom: When you say “overage,” are you telling me that I can drop from 9 to 6 and still get the 9 credit hours worth of aid without the system lessening my aid amount?
Thumper1: I want as much refund in my checking account as possible. That’s why I’m asking about trying to drop from 9 credits to 6 credits without my FAO dropping my aid award from 9 to 6 after I drop the class. I’d be dropping either right at midnight on the 16th going into the 17th…which will take my balance from $3058 to $2047 while my aid offer won’t immediately change from $3200 to $2480. When a class is dropped, the system, no matter the time of day, will automatically reduce the balance. Not so for aid awards, which according to their website takes two weeks to be adjusted.
All I want is 9 hours of aid ($3200) to be applied to 6 hours of balance ($2047), so my refund is $1153. I understand most of that amount will have to be paid back, but I would rather be charged late fees and whatever else and just pay it back later in the summer. I NEED the excess refund now.
If you DON’T have the money to pay back your overage in aid disbursal…then you should be considering working this summer, and not taking classes at all. Most kids who need money for college work in the summers…most kids don’t take classes.