Federal Pell Grant
The Federal Pell Grant is awarded to assist students in pursuing their first undergraduate degree. The intent of the Federal Pell Grant is to provide a foundation of financial assistance to supplement the cost of postsecondary education.
Pell Grant funds will be used to pay for tuition, fees, books, and unpaid Residence Hall costs. Balance checks for unused Pell funds will not be disbursed to any student who has a balance due to CTC.
You may receive a Federal Pell Grant for a summer semester, even if you received a full Federal Pell Grant during the fall and spring semesters. Year-round Pell allows students to receive up to 150% of the award over the course of the academic year. You may use this to earn your degree faster. You’re not required to carry a full-time load to receive the summer Pell Grant; however, for the scheduled award amount, you must be fulltime (12 credit hours); otherwise, it will be federally adjusted.
Summer is considered the final semester of the academic year. To be eligible for year-round summer Pell Grant funds you must:
- Submit the current FAFSA to apply for summer funds;
- Be eligible to receive Pell Grant funds for the payment period;
- Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Eligibility;
- Be enrolled at least half-time (6 credit hours) during the summer semester, if you were enrolled fulltime status for fall and spring;
- However, if you are less than half-time you may be eligible for some funding, if you have NOT exhausted your scheduled Pell grant usage in fall and spring and
- Have lifetime Pell Grant eligibility remaining.
NOTE: If you are transferring to CTC for only the summer semester, you are not eligible to receive financial aid at Central Texas College. You may be able to obtain financial aid from your home college or university.
Summer Pell Awarding
Summer Pell is awarded based on term weeks and Cost of Attendance (COA). For Federal Student Aid, term weeks are specifically defined. Summer is defined as a 10-week term. The Pell grant is prorated for summer awarding due to the 10-week term. For example, a scheduled annual award with a zero Expected Family Contribution (EFC ) is 6495, split between the fall and spring 16-week term. Summer calculations would be prorated by calculating the 10-week term divided by weeks in the academic year; multiplied by scheduled award for the prorated summer award.
Ryne’s enrollment status for summer is half-time, the payment for that term is based on a half-time annual award of $3,248. To calculate the payment for the term, the school uses the fraction 10/32:
| 10 weeks |
X $3,248 = $1,015
|
| 32 weeks of academic |