One of the federal funding programs known as the Pell Grant is offered to students who have financial needs, but it has restrictions. Six years of Pell Grant money is the lifetime cap; however, the specific amount varies on the year and your financial situation.
The Pell Grant lifetime maximum is equal to 600 percent of your scheduled award amount, or 100 percent of the amount of help you might get over six years.
Recently, federal legislation limits the sum of Pell Grant money a student is going to collect in their lifetime to the sum of six years’ worth of Pell Grant money. Please note that the six-year equivalent is 600 percent. This is because the maximum Pell Grant funding that a student may earn on a yearly basis is equal to 100 percent.
How Your Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used Is Calculated
For Scheduled Award
For the scheduled awards, an “award year” is used to determine your eligibility for the highest amount of Pell Grant cash. An award year is the time frame starting on July 1 of one calendar year and ending on June 30 of the following. Your “planned award” is based on your expected family contribution (EFC), which is computed using the data you (or your family) provided when you submitted the FAFSA.
Your planned reward is the amount you could get if you attended school full-time during the award year. You are eligible for a Pell Grant in full for the award year your scheduled reward is scheduled.
Percent Used
The department analyzes the amount you received for the year with the scheduled award and calculates how much of your six-year (600 percent) maximum Pell Grant you have utilized each year. You will have utilized 100 percent if you receive the whole amount of your planned award.
For some pupils, an award year’s full scheduled prize may not be given. For instance, if your scheduled grant for an award year is $5,000 but you only received $2,500 since you were registered for one semester, you would have received 50 percent of the scheduled award for that year.
You would have received 75 percent for that year even if you only received $3,750 because you were only enrolled part-time, and not full-time during the award year.
For Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU)
For Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU), the percentages of your Pell Grant planned rewards you collect each year that make you eligible for the award, are added together by the Federal Department of Education to calculate your LEU. Federal Student Aid has information on your remaining Pell funds as well as how much you have utilized.