Karen Krause Executive Director, Financial Aid, Scholarships, and VA University of Texas at Arlington

Just what we needed – another acronym! LEU – Lifetime Eligibility Used

Effective July 1, 2012, students may receive Federal Pell Grant funds for up to 6 full time years or 600%. This includes all Federal Pell Grant or Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) funds ever received by the student.

A weekly LEU report is available through COD for schools to pull LEU data for all students who have used at least 450% of the Lifetime Eligibility Usage. Report will include students who have indicated your school code on the FAFSA.

Prior to June, 2012 No indication on ISIR record of Pell LEU Student received an from DOE informing them of the LEU

Beginning in June, 2012 ISIR records now contain a “C” flag for students with an LEU percentage of 450% or greater – “C” flag must be cleared A message appears on the SAR and ISIR record but no specific sent to student ISIR record does not contain the percentage of LEU for the student

New ISIR records were sent to schools for every students who filed a FAFSA prior to the beginning of June, and the updated record contains the “C” flag

Awarding Federal Pell Grants to Students with LEU Students with LEU percentages of more than 500% are not eligible for a full scheduled award during The first disbursement of the scheduled award should be for the maximum amount allowed and the second disbursement for the remaining eligibility

Example – student with a 0 EFC and an LEU of 525% attending a traditional term based school enrolled full time Total Pell eligibility for $4, Fall disbursement for full time enrollment- $2,775 Spring disbursement for enrollment of 6 hours or more - $1, NSLDS will still reflect the “Scheduled Award” as $5,550

Guidance recently issued from DOE regarding students who want to decline a current year Federal Pell Grant to receive it in the future May be done on a case by case basis at the request of the student Treat such a request like any professional judgment decision – document and retain the documentation

FAOs may view individual student records of Federal Pell Grant LEU data in both NDSLS and in COD If the records differ, COD is the “official” source Students do not have access to COD Currently there is no dispute process if the student disagrees with the LEU information that DOE has on record

Issues for ISIR record does not contain individual LEU percentages NSLDS data initially came out in April after many of us had begun packaging COD data was added in June which changed the LEU information and therefore awards for some students No warning to students ahead of this year, so students were surprised by reduced eligibility at the end of their academic careers

Issues for Mid year changes in how information was handled – no flag on the ISIR prior to June but to student; now flag and comment on ISIR but no to student Schools received updated ISIR records with “C” flags in June for all previously filed ISIRs Fall Pell payments create new LEU information – difficult to sort out which LEU information we need to honor and which is actually reflecting our own awards

Issues for COD and LEU figures may differ No student appeal process

Issues for the Future How will software vendors handle tracking of LEU – b0th initial information and subsequent LEU records that include our own institutional payments Packaging – institutions will need to consider what grant funds they will award to students who have little or no Federal Pell Grant eligibility left Consumer information – how will we alert students early enough to affect enrollment and academic performance behavior

References

We have not succeeded in answering all of our problems. Indeed, we have not completely answered any of them. The answers we have found have only served to raise a whole new set of questions. In some ways we are as confused as ever. However, we feel we are confused on a much higher level and about much more important things.

Discussion and Questions Karen Krause Executive Director, Financial Aid, Scholarships, and Veteran’s Affairs University of Texas at Arlington