<p>How is the summer pell grant calculated? </p>
<p>Is it a separate grant that provides extra money? Or does the financial aid office just take part of your regular pell grant and apply it to the summer semester? </p>
<p>My school awarded me a $3800 pell grant, $1900 per semester. I informed the office that I was taking summer courses and they lowered the amount they will be giving me by $900 and created a summer pell grant for $900. So now my award looks like this: </p>
<p>Summer pell grant: $900
Fall pell grant: $1900
Spring Pell grant: $1000</p>
<p>Do other schools do this? I originally told the office not to help me because I wanted to pay my summer semester out of pocket, but they told me that they have to award me an additional pell grant by law. If anything it's an inconvenience because now I will have to pay the school $900 for the spring semester.</p>
<p>Is this your freshman year? Are you taking your first college courses this summer, that is, you are starting early? I always wondered how schools like Penn State distributed PELL when they required some students to begin with the summer session, for that first year. </p>
<p>I don’t know anything about it being the law. But why is this an issue for you? Bank the $900 until the spring or just pay the school anyways and let it sit as a credit on your account. Better to get the money sooner rather than later. </p>
<p>I’ve never encountered this, so it’s of interest to me too. My experience has been that fin aid for the summer is usually stuck onto the tail end of the year, not upfront like yours is Which is why situations like the PSU required summer start puzzled me. It may depend upon the school. But the experience I saw was that if one had borrowed the full Direct Loan allotment for a school year and wanted to take summer school courses, one could not borrow from the next year’s amount for the particular school that I saw. But…I was also told this can vary from school to school. </p>
<p>I’m in my third year at the University of Maine. </p>
<p>This isn’t necessarily an issue, it just doesn’t make any sense to me. A college student asks the financial aid office NOT to give him any aid because he wants to pay out of pocket, but they tell him that they have to give him aid anyways. </p>
<p>From what I’ve looked up, it seems like the amount for the Pell Grant should be the same every semester. But the wording on the qualifications is confusing and I don’t understand if my school has done it right or not. It seems that they took away grant money to give me a grant. </p>
<p>I am not sure what is going on. UMaine’s website shows summer as a trailer term, meaning it is the last term in the financial aid award year. Did you receive a Pell grant this year? Did you attend class full time in fall and in spring? If not, you may have leftover Pell from the current year that can be used in the summer.</p>
<p>Kelsmom, I need to correct myself. I don’t attend UMaine, I attend a smaller school in the University of Maine System. I just don’t want to reveal which one because it has a small enrollment. Our school’s first term is the summer. Yes, I have received a Pell Grant every year in college so far. My EFC has never been higher than 2500 and it is currently lower than 1000. I can’t remember the exact number. </p>
<p>There is no additional summer Pell (there was for a couple of years but they ended that program almost as soon as they started it). You can only get Pell in the summer for a summer trailer school (one that treats summer as part of the preceding year) is if there is an unused amount left over from the amount you are eligible for for the year (for instance if you only attended the Spring semester or were part time). If it is a summer header school (one that treats summer as part of the following year), any Pell in the summer would reduce your aid in the regular school year.</p>
<p>I have never heard of there being a law saying they had to give you summer Pell. My daughter got her Pell over the 2 semesters of the regular year and did not get any in the summer (except for 2 summers where the law allowed additional summer Pell).</p>
<p>Thank you, swimcatsmom. That was very helpful. </p>
<p>The fact that summer is the first term of the award year is important. The school is allowed to set its own policies, and they can choose to award Pell beginning in summer if they want. It may be the way they need to do it based on computer system constraints. If you don’t need the Pell in summer, save that amount & use it later, when you need it!</p>