Background for Pell Grants

The Pell grant program is a type of post-secondary, educational federal grant program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. It is named after U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell and was originally known as the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program. Pell grants, which do not require repayment, are awarded based on a financial need formula determined by the U.S. Congress using criteria submitted through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Annually, the Federal Pell Grant Program issues revisions to grant amounts and disbursement schedules. The grant disbursement schedule is maintained by the Federal government at https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/program/Pell%20Grant. Pell grants are COD Grants.

Origination for Pell Grants

After you export originations, Anthology Student sets the origination status to Batched to Send. When an origination status is batched, you are not allowed to modify any origination information. The award is considered to be originated if the origination status is Accepted (A), Batched to Send (B), or Error/Rejected (E).

After the grant origination records are sent to COD, if changes are made to the data that affect the origination, Anthology Student captures the changes and prepares records to be exported to COD.

When you add a COD grant or loan, the default status is Not Ready to Send or Not Ready to Send (No ISIR).

The conditions under which the origination status can be set to Ready to Send depends on the policies at your institution. If your institution has configured Anthology Student to: 

  • Require a verified ISIR, you cannot add an award or specify an origination status of Ready to Send until the ISIR is received (ISIR Received Date has been populated by Anthology Student.)

  • Automatically update the origination status to Ready to Send if there is a change in the origination amount, the change is automatically sent to COD

  • Originate or certify estimated awards and automatically update the origination status to Ready to Send, the origination status is changed to Ready to Send for awards that do not have a status of canceled when an ISIR is imported or during the ISIR matching process

Anthology Student updates the status of disbursements to Ready to Send to COD when disbursements are approved to pay or paid. In addition, if refunds are made, Anthology Student marks the refund records as ready to be sent as well.

If your institution has not configured Anthology Student to allow origination for an estimated award, the origination status cannot be Ready to Send until the award has a status of Approved.

The status Not Ready to Send (No ISIR) may indicate that the ISIR record is not properly linked to the student record. In this case, the ISIR Matching process can be used to resolve the issue.

Other conditions can cause a grant to have origination changes. For example, if the grant has been originated and you change the value for Verification Status on the Awards tab, you are also prompted to change the origination status to Ready to Send.

When a student's status changes to Cancelled and the student's Enrollment Start Date isn't populated, Anthology Student cancels any originated Pell award for the student and sends the updated record to COD.

Note: The system allows for student probationary periods, so if the Enrollment Start Date is populated and the student's status changes to Cancelled, the Pell award is not automatically cancelled. This allows users to perform a Return to Title IV for the student.

If you are using the Student Pace Evaluation (SPE) tool, your institution can also configure Anthology Student to change the status of an originated award from Accepted or Batched to Send to Ready to Send when the date of a disbursement is updated by the SPE tool.

Amounts

Student eligibility for a Pell grant is calculated (estimated) when the student's ISIR is imported into Anthology Student. The Department of Education will publish a Pell grant maximum and minimum amount for Award Years 2024-25 and later, which is used in determining amounts. When an ISIR is imported, or the user manually selects a new ISIR being paid on, Anthology Student has logic based on guidance from the Department of Education that will calculate the amount each student is eligible to receive for that award year.

If the student has NSLDS history on file indicating that the student received Pell funds during the award year or if there are existing Pell awards within the system for the award year, Anthology Student adjusts the amounts for Pell grants that you add.

When a student has multiple enrollments, if the Financial Aid is not moved to the new current enrollment, Anthology Student allows you to enter multiple Pell awards when the enrollment is transferred up to the eligible amount. You cannot add more than the eligible Pell amount for the award year onto the second enrollment.

Disbursements

Anthology Student calculates the disbursements using the following formulas from the Department of Education.

Academic Calendar Formula
Standard terms of quarters, semesters, or trimesters with credit hours in which the fall through spring terms are equal to or greater than 30 weeks, or the academic year exceeds the definition of an academic year and the institution has a waiver. 1
Non-standard terms with term associations configured or sequences using a disbursement schedule. 3
Clock hour or credit hours without terms (Applies to first-time creation, and selecting recalculate Pell eligibility.) 4

For formula 4, Anthology Student calculates the maximum eligibility for the payment period and uses the lesser of the results of the 2 calculations shown in the table.

Academic Calendar Calculation Anthology Student Uses Minimum Definitions for the Academic Year
Clock hours Maximum Pell eligibility * hours in payment period/ hours in full academic year definition 900 hours
Maximum Pell eligibility * weeks in payment period/ weeks in full academic year definition 26 weeks
Credit hours Maximum Pell eligibility * credits in payment period/ credits in full academic year definition 24 credits
Maximum Pell eligibility * weeks in payment period/ weeks in full academic year definition 30 weeks

Pell Cost of Attendance Calculation

The Pell COA is always based on a full-time student for a full 9-month academic year by residency.

The Pell COA populated on the Awarding form uses the value configured on the program version based on the housing status (With Parent, On Campus, Off Campus) when configured.

When the number of months in the academic year is less than 9, Anthology Student will calculate a student's Pell COA correctly if you also reduce the values in the Budget section on the Academic Year form.

Year-Round Pell Grants for Award Years 2017-18 and Later

Anthology Student can process and package the year-round Pell grant introduced by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). You can select the Additional Eligibility Indicator (AEI) check box when you add or edit a Pell grant to specify that a student is eligible for a year-round Pell grant. When the check box is selected for award year 2017-18 and later, a student is eligible to receive up to 150% of the full-time maximum Pell grant.

If the award year is 2017-18 or later and you automatically package a student who is eligible for a year-round Pell grant, you must: 

  • Select the Additional Eligibility Indicator check box for the Pell grant

  • Calculate the additional disbursement amount and add it (You can also use the Recalculate Pell Eligibility button.) 

If the student has received full eligibility on a prior enrollment, you must add a new award for the additional eligibility on the new enrollment.

The check box is disabled if:

  • The enrollment status for a student is less than 1/2 time or other (The student must have an enrollment status of at least 1/2 time.)

  • The campus is using a servicer, such as Global (Pell validations are relaxed and the AEI check box is not displayed on the page.)

To clear the Additional Eligibility Indicator check box, you must create refunds or cancel scheduled disbursements to reduce the award amount to less than or equal to 100% eligibility. If you cancel a disbursement and it results in reducing the Pell award amount to 100% eligibility or lower, Anthology Student automatically clears the AEI check box

Anthology Student calculates the percentage using the following formula and includes scheduled, posted, and canceled disbursements, as well as refunds.

Amount Disbursed + Amount of Scheduled Disbursement - Amount Refunded

Anthology Student also:

  • Automatically updates the origination amount when changes are made to the award amount if the origination status is not Batched or Accepted

  • Creates adjustments if the award is already originated

  • Resets the amount to their original Pell eligibility amount if the award amount is greater than 100% and the check box is not selected for the student

  • Tracks the lifetime eligibility used so that it does not exceed Pell Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) of 600% for qualifying students

For additional information on how to implement Year-Round Pell at your institution, see the:

Pell Grants for Award Years 2024-25 and Later

The FAFSA Simplification Act introduces modifications to the student need analysis formulas and calculation of Federal Pell Grant awards beginning with the 2024-25 award year. The FAFSA Simplification Act extends the Federal Pell Grant to more students and links eligibility to family size and the federal poverty level. The awarding process relies on data received directly from the IRS to calculate a student’s Student Aid Index (SAI) and Pell grant award.

Pell grant eligibility will be determined using the following steps:

  1. Determine the student’s Pell Grant Scheduled Award. The Pell Grant Scheduled Award is the maximum amount a student can receive during the award year if the student attends full-time for a full academic year.

  2. Determine the student’s Pell Grant Annual Award using Pell Formulas 1 through 5 and the student’s expected enrollment intensity. (Pell Formulas 1-5 used to determine a student’s Pell grant payment amount were not changed.)

  3. Apply the appropriate Pell Formula to divide the Annual Award among the payment periods in which the student plans to enroll.

  4. Change the student’s disbursement amount for a payment period based on the student’s actual enrollment intensity for that period.

  5. Reduce the disbursement amount for the payment period if the student has reached their annual or lifetime maximum.

Beginning with the 2024-25 academic year, the Department of Education will no longer publish a Federal Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedule. Instead, each student’s Scheduled Pell Award is:

  • An automatic Maximum Pell Grant Award (Max Pell);

  • The difference between the Annual Max Pell and the student’s SAI; or

  • A Minimum Pell Grant Award (Min Pell).

Annual Pell Award

The Annual Pell Award is the Scheduled Pell Award adjusted for enrollment intensity. The Scheduled Pell Award is the maximum amount a student can receive during the award year if the student attends full-time for a full academic year.

The FAFSA Simplification Act changes the way a Scheduled Pell Grant must be reduced for students enrolled less than full-time. The Pell grant must be prorated according to the student’s enrollment intensity rounded to the nearest whole percent.

Enrollment Intensity

Enrollment intensity is the percentage of full-time enrollment at which a student is enrolled, rounded to the nearest whole percent. For example, if full-time enrollment is 12 credit hours and the student is enrolled in 7 hours, the enrollment intensity would be 7 ÷ 12 × 100% = 58%.

Standard Terms

Full-time enrollment for programs offered in standard terms is 12 credit hours. Below is a chart of enrollment intensity relative to full-time. Enrollment intensity cannot exceed 100% for purposes of Pell grant proration.

Credit Hours
 Enrollment Category
(Old)		 Enrollment Intensity
(New)
12 (or more) Full Time 100%
11

 

3/4 Time

 92%
10 83%
9 75%
8

 

Half Time

67%
7 58%
6 50%
5

 

 

Less Than Half Time

42%
4 33%
3 25%
2 17%
1 8%

Programs Offered in Non-Standard Terms

Full-time enrollment for programs offered in non-standard terms is determined by multiplying the number of weeks in each term by the number of credit hours in an academic year, then dividing by the number of weeks in an academic year. The full-time enrollment number is then used as the denominator for determining enrollment intensity.

Year-Round Pell

Students may be eligible to receive up to 150% of their Scheduled Pell grant for an award year. Previously, a Pell grant-eligible student must have been enrolled at least half-time in a payment period during which they received more than 100% of their scheduled award. The FAFSA Simplification Act removed the half-time enrollment requirement beginning with the 2024-25 award year.

Rounding and Limitations

When determining Pell grant amounts, the following rules apply:

  • Subtract the student’s SAI from the Max Pell, then round to the nearest $5 to get the Scheduled Pell Award for that student.

  • If the Max Pell minus the SAI calculation results in a Scheduled Pell Award less than the Min Pell amount, the student is ineligible for Pell based on SAI. However, they may still be eligible for Min Pell if they meet the criteria.

  • When using fractions, multiply first, then divide.

  • If the Scheduled Pell Award exceeds COA, reduce the Scheduled Pell Award to COA (do not round; truncate cents).

Anthology Student Process and Logic Updates

The Anthology Student updates based on the FAFSA Simplification Act include the following process and logic updates for 2024-25 Pell awards:

The system:

  • Checks a student’s eligibility for Max Pell and Min Pell and returns the following flags: NotEligible, MaxPell, MinPell, or Custom.

  • Uses the following parameters to determine eligibility:

    • A student's dependency status
    • State of legal residence
    • Adjusted gross income (AGI) for student and/or parent(s)
    • Single-parent status
    • Family size
    • Student Aid Index (SAI)
    • Cost of Attendance (COA)

  • Includes a database table to define the 2022 Poverty Guideline with the following columns:

    • LegalResidenceState
    • FamilySize (1-8 or null (meaning >=9))
    • Poverty Guideline

  • Calculates the following values (calculated values are rounded up) based on the Poverty Guideline (according to LegalResidenceState and FamilySize) for dependent and independent students:

    • Max Pell Parent AGI Limit as (225% / 175%) of the Poverty Guideline
    • Min Pell Parent AGI Limit as (325% / 275% / 400% /350%) of the calculated Poverty Guideline (according to LegalResidenceState and FamilySize).
        Max Percent Min Percent
    Dependent Single parent 225% 325%
    Dependent Not a single parent 175% 275%
    Independent Single parent 225% 400%
    Independent Not a single parent 175% 350%
    Independent Not a parent 175% 275%

  • Applies the following logic to determine the Scheduled Pell Award amount:

    • If the AGI value (parent's AGI in case of Dependent or student's AGI in case of Independent) <=Max Pell Parent AGI Limit and > 0, return MaxPell eligibility. Scheduled Pell Award = MaxPell.

    • If not eligible for Max Pell, check if the AGI value (parent's AGI in case of Dependent or student's AGI in case of Independent) <= Min Pell Parent AGI Limit. If yes, return MinPell eligibility. Scheduled PellAward = Min Pell.

    • If the above conditions are not satisfied, qualify the student for a Pell award through SAI calculation.

  • Validates that the following rule is satisfied: Max Pell Grant Award - SAI > = Min Pell Grant Award

    • If this rule is satisfied, the student is eligible for a Pell award through SAI calculation and the Scheduled Pell Award = Max Pell - SAI (rounded to the nearest $5).

    • If the rule is not satisfied, the student is not eligible for a Pell award.

  • Validates that the Scheduled Pell Award does not exceed the student’s cost of attendance (COA).

    • If the calculated Scheduled Pell Award exceeds COA. then Scheduled Pell Award = COA.

Until the Department of Education publishes values forthe award year 2024-25, the system uses the 2023-24 values ($7395 Max, $740 Min).

Field Changes in Anthology Student

When packaging Pell grants for the 2024-25 award year and later, Anthology Student calculates the Annual Scheduled Amount based on the:

  • Maximum Pell Grant Award (Max Pell) for eligible students

  • Scheduled Pell Award for students with positive and negative Student Aid Index (SAI) values (Scheduled Pell Award = Max Pell – SAI)

  • Adjusted Scheduled Pell Award based on the Cost of Attendance (COA) limits

  • Adjusted Scheduled Pell Award based on the enrollment intensity percentage

The FaStudentPell table in the Anthology Student database stores the records related to a student's Pell grant. The table was updated to persist the following values:

  • SAI (whole numbers, no decimals)

  • ProvisionalSAI (whole numbers, no decimals) — Used when the Department of Education has not calculated an official SAI (Professional Judgement)

  • ScheduledAmount (whole numbers) — Holds either the Max Pell, Min Pell, or Temporary Scheduled Award (TSA) amount based on the ISIR flags

  • CalcPellSchedAmt (bit field) — The ISIR import process can update the field() to 1

  • PellReducedCOA (bit field)

A service in Anthology Student retrieves the Max Pell, Min Pell, or calculated Pell/SAI from imported ISIRs and populates the FaStudentPell table per student and award year.

Schools often package Pell before courses are registered. Therefore, initial awarding in Anthology Student will always package to a default of 100% enrollment intensity (EI). However, since this 'default' is not a true representation of the student's enrollment intensity, it is presented in Anthology Student as "Estimated" or "unofficial".

The Recalculate Pell eligibility function in Anthology Student will recalculate amounts based on the assigned EI in the grid.

Estimated Award Year COA

The Awards tab displays the Estimated Award Year COA field for Pell fund sources for award years 2024-25 and later.

When a student’s Academic Year (AY) cost of attendance (budget) is updated or saved, a background service populates the Estimated Award Year COA field with an Award Year 1 or Award Year 2 value that matches the student’s Pell award year.

The service takes the cost from the AY with the largest COA and determines which configuration method was used to build the AY. The service considers the following configurations:

  1. If the AY sequences are used (no Term Association), the service takes the full amount from the AY with the greatest COA as the Estimated Award Year COA. The reason for this approach is that at initial packaging Anthology Student cannot determine which portion of either AY is to be used for the award year. This eliminates a premature Pell grant reduction by COA unless it is warranted.

  2. If Term Association is used, the service takes the AY with the highest COA, divides it by the number of terms used to build the AY, and multiplies it with the number of terms in a standard AY.

    If the Additional Eligibility Indicator (AEI) is selected, the service multiplies the cost per term with the number of terms in a standard AY + 1.

    Example:

    The cost per term is $3500.

    • For quarters with AEI, the Estimated Award Year COA is $3500 * 4 = $14,000
      (without AEI: $3500 * 3 = $10,500 )

    • For semesters with AEI, the Estimated Award Year COA is $3500 * 3 = $10,500
      (without AEI: $3500 * 2 = $7,000)

  3. If there is no COA (no budgets assigned yet), the scheduled amount will not be reduced by COA. This case handles ISIRs being imported before an AY receives a budget and a COA is not calculated.

Estimated Award Year COA is an editable field with a maximum value of $999,999.00. The field can be locked to prevent the value from being changed. When the field is locked, the database field ExcludeCOAAutoAdjust value is set to 1; when the field is unlocked, the value is set to 0.

Actions that can change the Estimated Award Year COA include:

  • ISIR matching

  • Automated processes (e.g., auto-packaging, auto-repacking, auto-recalculate logic)

  • Saving changes on the Budget (e.g., tuition costs, fees, etc.) for the Academic Year

  • A user manually changes the Estimated Award Year COA on the Pell award

The Financial Aid Audit tracks all changes to the Estimated Award Year COA value and indicates the User IDs associated with the changes.