Federal PELL Grant

PELL Grants are only available for the first Bachelor's degree. You are considered to hold a Bachelor's degree when you have completed the requirements for the degree, even if the degree has not officially been awarded by the institution.

Due to federal regulations, PELL grants are only available for the equivalent of 12 full-time semesters.

PELL Grants are considered a foundation of federal financial aid, to which aid from other federal and nonfederal sources might be added.

PELL Grant amounts can change annually. For more information click here:

Learn more about Federal PELL Grants

The PELL amount you get will depend on your:

• financial need
• cost of attendance
• Starting with 2024-25 Pell awards for less than full-time enrollment will be prorated differently than it has been in the past. The disbursed amount will be based on the student's enrollment intensity. For example, a student who is eligible for $3698 in Pell Grant in Fall if enrolled full-time but only registers for 3 credits will be eligible for 25% of that amount, or $925. See the chart below:
  
  
• plans to attend school for a full academic year or less.

You may not receive Federal PELL Grant funds from more than one school at a time.

The PELL Grant award varies according to the semester credits you are enrolled in.

Any adjustments you make to your schedule (dropping classes, etc.) could impact the award amount of your PELL Grant. If you drop credits, you could lose eligibility for some of the PELL Grant you are awarded originally and be required to repay a portion or all of the Grant award depending on the number of credits.

To avoid any repayment, please be aware of the following:

• Your PELL grant enrollment is frozen on the 10th day of school for that semester (the "census date" for the summer session is the 5th day of class).
• Any classes added after the census date will not count towards determining your PELL Grant eligibility. This applies to internships, workshops and other classes, even if the University allows you to add the credits.
• If you add or drop classes after your PELL Grant has disbursed, your student account will reflect any resulting changes to your PELL award within a few working days.
• Try to add and drop classes during the same session on MyISU, if possible. Make sure to ADD a class before you drop another class. By just dropping a class without adding another class first, you may cause your PELL Grant to decrease. If you do not ADD first you may also have a late fee on unpaid balances with the ISU Cashier’s Office caused by this decrease in PELL Grant award.
• Your PELL award is based on the assumption that you attend all your enrolled classes.
• If you do not attend a class, or if you drop a class before it starts, your PELL Grant award will be recalculated. Your student account on MyISU, under the My Financial Aid card, will reflect any PELL Grant reduction that occurs for these reasons, (allow up to 5 working days for enrollment changes to be reflected on your student account).

To see your PELL Lifetime Eligibility Used percentage, log on to the StudentAid.Gov using your FSA ID and view your Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU). The LEU will be found on the Financial Aid Review page.