(GEN-22-03) 2022-2023 Federal Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules

Publication Date
January 31, 2022
DCL ID
GEN-22-03
Subject
2022-2023 Federal Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules
Summary
The attachments to this letter contain the 2022-2023 Award Year Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules.

Note

This Dear Colleague Letter has been superseded by Dear Colleague Letter GEN-22-04, posted on March 24, 2022.

Dear Colleague:

Attached to this letter are both PDF and Excel versions of the Payment and Disbursement Schedules for determining Federal Pell Grant awards for the 2022-2023 award year (July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023) for full-time, three-quarter-time, half-time, and less-than-half-time students.  With the release of the 2022-2023 FAFSA® on Oct. 1, 2021, the Department is providing the Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules so institutions may inform students and families about their eligibility for a Federal Pell Grant. All 2022-2023 Federal Pell Grant awards must be based on the attached schedules.

On Dec. 3, the President signed Public Law 117-70, making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2022, and for other purposes. Under these continuing appropriations, for the 2022-2023 award year, the maximum Pell Grant award remains fixed at $6,495 and the corresponding maximum Pell Grant eligible expected family contribution (EFC) remains fixed at 5846. This situation could change at any time pending further action by Congress.

We will publish the 2022-2023 Federal Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules by Feb. 1 in accordance with section 482 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). Nevertheless, you should be aware that the funding currently made available under P.L. 117-70 expires on Feb. 18, 2022, unless Congress acts to extend it. That law’s Pell Grant appropriation, or a similar measure, must be extended through Sept. 30, 2022, in order to fund the award levels described above for all eligible students in 2022-2023. If Congress acts to modify the current maximum award for 2022-2023, we will publish revised schedules.

Under section 401(b)(4) of the HEA, the minimum Pell Grant award is 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 2022-2023 award year minimum scheduled award amount will be $650.

Although $6,495 is the maximum Pell Grant scheduled award for the 2022-2023 award year, 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), during the payment period for which the student receives the additional Pell Grant funds in excess of 100 percent of the students Pell Grant scheduled award. To learn more, see Dear Colleague Letter GEN-17-06.

As a reminder, in using the attached schedules to award 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. Please note also 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, supplies, transportation, room and board 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 Handbook.

A student’s eligibility to receive a Federal Pell Grant award may be limited by section 401(c)(5) of the HEA, which limits lifetime Pell Grant eligibility to 12 semesters (or its equivalent). You should review information on Pell Grant eligibility determinations and the Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) limit posted on the Knowledge Center website. For more information on the LEU limitation, see Dear Colleague Letter GEN-13-14 and Volume 3, Chapter 3 of the Federal Student Aid Handbook.

You should also be aware of guidance on 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 to learn more about this scholarship.

In future electronic announcements, we will address system, web, and software modifications that will reflect the 2022-2023 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.

We appreciate your continued support in making Federal Pell Grant Program assistance available to students.

Sincerely,

Richard Cordray
Chief Operating Officer
Federal Student Aid

Last Modified: 03/24/2022