AwardYear: 1995-1996 EnterChapterNo: 4 EnterChapterTitle: Federal Pell Grant Program SectionNumber: SectionTitle: Introduction PageNumbers: 1-2 This chapter of the Federal Student Financial Aid Handbook describes how a school calculates and pays Federal Pell Grant (Pell) awards to eligible students and how it reports those payments to the U.S. Department of Education. The discussion covers what the school must do to process an eligible student's Pell award after the school has received documentation of the student's eligibility. This chapter covers the basic steps in the Pell award process at the school: confirming student eligibility, calculating the award, making a disbursement, recalculating the award (if necessary), collecting overpayments, and reporting expenditures to the Department. UPDATES [[Final Rule 11-1-94]] On November 1, 1994, the Department amended the Federal Pell Grant Program regulations. These changes become effective on July 1, 1995. Some of the major changes in the regulations are-- - The methods for calculating Pell payments for a payment period are revised. The regulations now provide separate calculations for programs with standard terms (semesters, trimesters, and quarters) and programs with nonstandard terms. - The term "Institutional Student Information Record" (ISIR) is defined, and includes the document previously called an Electronic Student Aid Report (ESAR). The requirement that an ISIR be signed to be valid has been removed. - Students can not be required to submit a Student Aid Report (SAR) if the school participates in the electronic or magnetic disbursement systems (Electronic Data Exchange [EDE], Recipient Data Exchange [RDE], or the Floppy Disk Data Exchange) and receives the student's ISIR. - Schools must pay a student based on a valid ISIR, as well as a valid SAR. - The term "Payment Voucher" is redefined to include electronic and magnetic payment records. 1995-96 is the last year that the Department will provide paper Payment Vouchers. - The term "annual award" is defined. - Schools can no longer make a first disbursement without a valid SAR or ISIR. Other changes affecting the Federal Pell Grant Program are-- - Students incarcerated in federal or state institutions are not eligible for Pell. [[Final Rule 11-29-94]] - The General Provisions regulations now provide procedures for schools to request a waiver of the requirement that an academic year be at least 30 weeks. The revised Pell calculations explain how schools that have received a waiver should calculate awards. - Only students being verified are required to sign a Statement of Updated Information; Pell recipients who are not being verified are not required to sign this statement. [[Final Rule 12-1-94]] - The General Provisions regulations now include cash management provisions that apply to all programs; these provisions replace some of the Pell-specific disbursement and accounting requirements. - Students cannot receive more than one Scheduled Award for the 1995-96 award year. The regulations allow students to receive two Scheduled Awards in an award year only if the Department determines that sufficient funds are available from the appropriations for that award year. No funds are available for this purpose for 1995-96. |