Federal Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Usage (LEU)

The amount of Federal Pell Grant funds you may receive over your lifetime is limited by federal law to be the equivalent of six years of Pell Grant funding. Since the amount of a scheduled Pell Grant award you can receive each award year is equal to 100 percent, the six-year equivalent is 600 percent.

How is my Federal Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used calculated?

Scheduled award: The maximum amount of Federal Pell Grant funding you can receive is calculated for an award year. An award year is a period from July 1 of one calendar year to June 30 of the next calendar year.

Your scheduled award:

• Is partially determined by using your Student Aid Index from your FAFSA.
• Is the maximum amount you would be able to receive for the award year if you were enrolled fulltime for the full school year.
• Represents 100 percent of your Pell Grant eligibility for that award year.

Percent used: To determine how much of the maximum six years (i.e., 600%) of Pell Grant you have used each year, the U.S. Department of Education compares the actual amount you received for the award year with your scheduled award amount for that award year.

If you receive the full amount of your scheduled award, you will have used 100 percent. It’s possible that you might not receive your entire scheduled award for an award year. There are a number of reasons for this, the most common of which are that you are not enrolled for the full year or that you are not enrolled fulltime, or both.

In certain situations, it is possible that you may be eligible to receive up to 150 percent of your scheduled award for an award year. For example, if you were enrolled full-time in the fall, spring and summer semesters, you would have received 150 percent of the scheduled award for that award year.

Lifetime Eligibility Used: The U.S. Department of Education keeps track of your Pell LEU by adding together the percentages of your Pell Grant scheduled awards that you received for each award year.

If your Pell LEU equals or exceeds 600 percent, you may no longer receive Pell Grant funding. Similarly, if your Pell LEU is greater than 500 percent but less than 600 percent, while you will be eligible for a Pell Grant for the next award year, you will not be able to receive a full scheduled award.

How can I see my Lifetime Eligibility Used percentage?

You can log in to My Federal Student Aid using your FSA ID to view your LEU. The Lifetime Eligibility Used will be found on the Financial Aid Review page.