Revision Responsibility: Director of Financial Aid

Responsible Executive Office: Vice President of Academic Affairs

Purpose: 

The amount of Federal Pell Grant funds you may receive over your lifetime is limited by federal law to be the equivalent of six years of Pell Grant funding. Since the amount of a scheduled Pell Grant award you can receive each award year is equal to 100%, the six-year equivalent is 600%.

Required: C.F.R. 690.63 and 690.80

Policy:

Pell awards are calculated by the computer system based on the ISIR information and the maximum scheduled award for the award year.  The annual award is divided into 3 quarter payment periods. 

Scheduled Award

The maximum amount of Federal Pell Grant funding you can receive is calculated for an award year. An award year is a period from July 1 of one calendar year to June 30 of the next calendar year.

Your scheduled award

• is partially determined by using your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) that is calculated from the information you (and your family) provided when you filed your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) form;
• is the maximum amount you would be able to receive for the award year if you were enrolled full-time for the full school year; and
• represents 100% of your Pell Grant eligibility for that award year.

The academic year at Platt College is defined as at least 30 weeks of instructional time and at least 24 credit hours.  The student's scheduled award is established by the Pell Grant payment schedule that the Department of Education issues prior to the start of each award year.  The amount of the Scheduled Award is always taken from the Full-Time payment schedule, and is based on the student's EFC and Cost of Attendance.  The annual award is the maximum amount a student would receive during a full academic year for a given enrollment status, EFC, and COA.  For a full-time student, the annual award is the same as the scheduled award. 

A part-time student will have an annual award that is less than the scheduled award.  If the student attends part-time, the student's annual award is taken from the 3/4 time, 1/2 time or less than the 1/2 time disbursement schedules.  For instance, if a student's scheduled award is $6095 but the student is enrolled as a 1/2 time student in a term program, the student's annual award would only be $3048. 

The College uses Formula 1: standard term programs with academic calendars of 30+ weeks. 

Terms and Payment Methods

The College uses standard quarter terms.  An individual quarter provides 10 weeks of instructional time plus 1 week of final examinations.  Full-time is defined as at least 12 quarter credit hours.  The College's academic calendar consists of four terms, one each in winter, spring, summer, and fall.  Pell grant credit balances are currently disbursed by check.  The checks are made available for students to pick up from the Financial Services Department. 

Summer Terms and Other Crossover Payment Periods

Payment periods don't always fall into one award year or another.  A new award year starts every July 1.  When a payment period falls into two award years-that is, it begins before July 1 and ends on July 1 or later-it's called a crossover payment period.  The formula for calculating the payment for a crossover payment period is the same as that for any other payment period in the award year.  The College can make a payment for a crossover payment period out of either award year, if the student has a valid output document for the award year selected.  The decision about which award year to use is usually based on the student's remaining eligibility in the earlier award year.  The College will calculate the student's payment for the summer term using the same Formula used to calculate payments for the other terms in the award year to which the summer term is assigned. 

Transfer Students

The Pell payment for a transfer student is calculated in the same way as for any new student.  However, a transfer student's remaining Pell eligibility is reduced if the student received Pell funds for the same award year at any prior schools.  The College identifies the student's prior Pell disbursements by reviewing their Financial Aid History in NSLDS. 

Calculating Remaining Eligibility

Once the College has identified the Pell amounts that a transfer student has already received for the ongoing award year, the College must calculate the percentage of the Scheduled Award that has been used.  The percentage is calculated by dividing the amount disbursed at the previous school by the student's scheduled award at that school. 

Platt College will not make a payment which will result in the student receiving more than their Scheduled Award for an award year, unless the student is enrolled at least half-time and is eligible for a Year-Round Pell award, in which case the student may be eligible to receive up to 150% of their Scheduled Award for the award year.

Recalculation

If a student's EFC changes, all corrections are processed by the Financial Aid office.  To initiate the change, the FA office reviews all ISIRs flagged.  Any ISIRs requiring corrections are transmitted to CPS for correction.  Corrected ISIRs are reviewed once corrections are made before processing student awards based on the corrected EFC. 

The Financial Aid office calculates Pell award amounts based on verified attended hours enrolled for each quarter at the end of the drop/add period. 

If a student does not being attendance in all of their classes, resulting in a change in the student's enrollment status, Platt College recalculates the student's award based on the lower enrollment status. 

Attendance at Platt College is measured by:

1. After the drop/add period is over, the Registrar generates an electronic attendance verification report.
2. Instructors are required to report each student who has attended at least one class session as verified attending.  They also report any student on the verification report who has never attended a class session as a no-show.
3. After all instructors have submitted their verifications, the Registrar removes the no show classes and the Financial Aid office recalculates the Pell awards based on verified attendance hours.
4. Any classes that have begun, but were not verified are reflected as an exception on the Expected Student Payable report used to create Pell refund disbursements.

The number of credit hours for which a student is paid financial aid will be based on the number of credits that they are enrolled on the Pell census date.  This is the date that attendance is verified after the drop-add period. 

The College does not recalculate Pell grant funds for changes in costs during an academic year. 

Created in Formal Policy: October 1, 2018