Federal Pell Grants are awarded based on the Student Aid Index (SAI) established by the U.S. Department of Education upon completion of the FAFSA; the school’s cost-of-attendance, and the student's enrollment status. Federal Pell Grants are awarded only to undergraduate students who have not earned a bachelor's degree.
To determine eligibility, the U.S. Department of Education uses a standardized formula to determine a student's Student Aid Index (SAI). SAI's can range from zero to 999,999. When a student completes a FAFSA they will be sent a FAFSA Submission Summar, formerly known as the Student Aid Report (SAR) that contains the SAI; information inputted on the FAFSA; and what you need to next to prepare to pa for school.
Maximum Pell Eligibility
The Department of Education has established that students can only receive the Federal Pell Grant for the equivalent of 12 full time semester or 600%. This means a student who has received a Federal Pell grant that is equivalent to 12 full time semesters is no longer eligible to receive the Federal Pell Grant or any other Federal Grants, even if they have not completed their first bachelor's degree. If this happens FAFSA will notify students via their FAFSA Submission Summary in the Comment Section and PennWest will update the student's aid package based on the information received from the Department of Education. PennWest highly encourages students to monitor their Federal Pell eligibility by logging in to their StudentAid.gov account and access the “My Aid” section.