Attached to this letter are both PDF and Excel versions of the Payment and Disbursement Schedules for determining Federal Pell Grant awards for the 2023-2024 award year (July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024) for full-time, three-quarter-time, half-time, and less-than-half-time students. All 2023-2024 Federal Pell Grant awards must be based on the attached schedules.
On December 29, 2022, the President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, which included a $500 increase to the maximum Pell Grant. The maximum Pell Grant award for the 2023-2024 award year is $7,395, and the corresponding maximum Pell Grant eligible expected family contribution (EFC) is 6656.
Section 401(b)(4) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), establishes the minimum Pell Grant award to be 10 percent of the maximum award amount for the award year. Because we use mid-points in both the EFC columns and the cost of attendance (COA) rows in constructing the schedules, the actual 2023-2024 award year minimum scheduled award amount will be $750.
Although $7,395 is the maximum Pell Grant scheduled award for the 2023-2024 award year, institutions are reminded that a student may be eligible to receive Pell Grant funds for up to 150 percent of the student’s Pell Grant scheduled award for an award year. To be eligible for the additional Pell Grant funds, the student must be otherwise eligible to receive Pell Grant funds for the payment period and must be enrolled at least as a half-time student, as defined in 34 CFR 668.2(b), in the payment period(s) for which the student receives the additional Pell Grant funds in excess of 100 percent of the student’s Pell Grant scheduled award. For additional information, see Dear Colleague Letter GEN-17-06.
For the 2024-2025 award year and thereafter, the FAFSA Simplification Act removes the requirement for a student to be enrolled as at least a half-time student to be eligible for the additional Pell Grant funds. Therefore, students who are enrolled less-than-half-time during a crossover payment period that overlaps July 1, 2024, may have eligibility for Pell Grant funds if their payment period is assigned to award year 2024-2025. A student enrolled less-than-half-time would not be eligible to receive Pell Grant funds for that crossover payment period if the funds are assigned to award year 2023-2024.
As a reminder, in using the attached schedules for awarding a Federal Pell Grant to a student, the full nine-month EFC must always be used regardless of the student’s actual period of attendance. Also, the Title IV COA to be used is always based on the costs for a full-time student for a full academic year, regardless of the actual enrollment status or actual time the student will be enrolled during the award year. It is also important to note that the statutory restrictions of using only certain cost components in constructing a COA in some circumstances still apply. For example, for a less-than-half-time student, the COA includes only cost components for tuition and fees, books, course materials, supplies, and equipment, transportation, food and housing for a limited time period, and dependent care expenses. For more information on these COA restrictions, please refer to Volume 3, Chapter 2, of the Federal Student Aid (FSA) Handbook.
Also, note that a student’s eligibility to receive a Federal Pell Grant award may be limited by the statutory provision in section 401(c)(5) of the HEA that sets a lifetime Pell Grant eligibility limit of 12 semesters (or its equivalent). Institutions should review information on Pell Grant eligibility determinations and the Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) limit posted on our Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) website. For additional information on the LEU limitation, see Dear Colleague Letter GEN-13-14 and Volume 7 of the 2023-2024 FSA Handbook (formerly in Volume 3, Chapter 3 of the 2022-2023 FSA Handbook). Institutions should also be aware of guidance regarding the Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship, which extends maximum Federal Pell Grant eligibility for certain students who have a Pell Grant-eligible EFC and who had a parent or guardian die while serving as a public safety officer. See the Electronic Announcement published on November 19, 2018, for more information regarding this scholarship.
In future electronic announcements, we will provide institutions with important information about system, web, and software modifications that will reflect the 2023-2024 Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules. These include changes to the Central Processing System (CPS), the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) Analysis Tool, the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System, and the EDExpress for Windows software.
As mentioned above, an overview of FAFSA Simplification Act changes for implementation in 2023-2024 can be found in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-22-15. Changes taking effect in award year 2024-2025 under the FAFSA Simplification Act and the FAFSA Simplification Act Technical Corrections Act will be covered in future Dear Colleague Letters and electronic announcements.
We appreciate your continued support in making Federal Pell Grant Program assistance available to students.
Richard Cordray
Chief Operating Officer
Federal Student Aid
The Department of Education strives to make all content accessible to everyone. While these documents do not currently meet the standards of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, Federal Student Aid is working to create accessible versions. If you need access to these documents before the accessible versions are available, please contact the Information Technology Accessibility Program Help Desk at ITAPSupport@ed.gov to help facilitate.