As its original name, the Basic Educational Opportunity Program (BEOG), implies, the Pell Grant Program serves as the foundation of a needy student's financial aid package....

As its original name, the Basic Educational Opportunity Program (BEOG), implies, the Pell Grant Program serves as the foundation of a needy student's financial aid package. Pell Grant is unaffected by other aid and is "portable" in that once a student is determined to be eligible, the grant is available at any Title IV-participating school. BEOG was renamed in honor of Sen. Claiborne Pell, who was instrumental in establishing this program. 

As its original name, the Basic Educational Opportunity Program (BEOG), implies, the Pell Grant Program serves as the foundation of a needy student's financial aid package. Pell Grant is unaffected by other aid and is "portable" in that once a student is determined to be eligible, the grant is available at any Title IV-participating school. BEOG was renamed in honor of Sen. Claiborne Pell, who was instrumental in establishing this program. 

Effective with the 2024-25 award year, the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant (IASG) is retired and students who fit the criteria under the Special Rule receive the Federal Pell Grant. This also means eligible students will no longer be subject to a sequester adjustment. As a part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, Section 473(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, was amended to authorize the Children of Fallen Heroes (CFH) program. Effective with the 2018-19 award year, Pell-eligible students whose parent or guardian died in the line of duty while performing as a public safety officer are eligible to receive maximum Pell Grant, this is without regard to the student’s calculated student aid index (SAI).

Web URL 34 CFR 690
Web URL Academically Eligible and Ineligible Pell Grant Community College Students: A Qualitative Investigation

(Community College Review)

Web URL College Affordability

(National College Attainment Network)

Web URL Federal Pell Grant Eligibility and Receipt: Explaining Nonreceipt and Changes to EFC Using National and Institutional Data

(Journal of Student Financial Aid)

PDF Federal Pell Grant Program of the Higher Education Act: Primer

(Congressional Research Service)

Web URL Higher Ed Affordability Continues to Decline for Pell Recipients – Federal, State Lawmakers Must Act

(National College Attainment Network)

Web URL How Middle-Income Families Benefit When the Maximum Pell Award Is Increased

(National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators)

PDF Implementing Pell: Challenges and Successes of Implementing the U.S. Department of Education’s Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative

(Journal of Correctional Education)

PDF Legislative Changes to Federal Methodology and the Pell Grant Program, 2006–2021

(National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators)

Web URL NCAN Conducts First Comprehensive Review of Impact of Verification on Pell Grant Awards

(National College Attainment Network)

PDF New Insights Into Attainment for Low-Income Students

(Center for American Progress)

PDF Pell Grants — a Key Tool for Expanding College Access and Economic Opportunity — Need Strengthening, Not Cuts

(Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

PDF Pell Grant Mission Creep: How a Federal Program for Low-Income Families Expanded to the Middle Class

(American Enterprise Institute)

PDF Prisoners’ Eligibility for Pell Grants: Issues for Congress

(Congressional Research Service)

PDF The 20% Solution: Selective Colleges Can Afford to Admit More Pell Grant Recipients

(Georgetown University, Center on Education and the Workforce)

PDF The Effects of Expanding Pell Grant Eligibility for Short Occupational Training Programs: Results from the Experimental Sites Initiative. Study Highlights. NCEE 2021-001

(National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance)

The Impact of Pell Grant Eligibility on Community College Students' Financial Aid Packages, Labor Supply, and Academic Outcomes

(Journal of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, AERA)

The Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: 2021 Historical Trend Report

(The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education of the Council for Opportunity in Education)

PDF The Pell Divide: How Four-Year Institutions are Failing to Graduate Low- and Moderate-Income Students

(Third Way)

Web URL Trends in Pell Grant Receipt and the Characteristics of Pell Grant Recipients: Selected Years, 2003–04 to 2015–16

(National Center for Education Statistics)

Web URL Trends in Ratio of Pell Grant to Total Price of Attendance and Federal Loan Receipt

(National Center for Education Statistics)

See also Cash Management, subtopic Administrative cost allowance (ACA), Pell Grant Program

Web URL 690.10

See also Recalculation of a Federal Pell Grant award

Web URL 690.63(f)
Web URL 690.63(a)(6)
Web URL 690.63(a)(1)
Web URL 690.63(b)
Web URL 690.63(d)
Web URL Electronic Announcement, 11/5/19

Revised Policy for Standard Term Length

Web URL 2024-25 FSA Handbook, Vol. 7, Ch. 4, February 2024
Web URL 690.65
Web URL 668.164
Web URL 690.81(b)
Web URL 690.83
Web URL 690.61(b)

See top list entry for Overawards and Overpayments

Web URL 690.11

See top list entry for Recordkeeping

Web URL 690.83
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